> People only really learn when they’re surprised.

This is a nice sensationalist punchline, but I don't think it's true at all. Most of what people learn is not bang, a new thing unlocked, but rather repetitions and small incremental improvements to truly hone and understand an idea or activity. Think of learning a language for example. You wouldn't say you've only ever learned something when you hear a new word for the first time. The real learning is remembering it, using it in different contexts, understanding how other people use it, seeing it in slang, etc.