A different kind of FOMO

From Aristotle to AI, everything known is created or discovered by human intelligence. Are we now in a possible danger of inhibiting the intelligence of our species?

The first regulation on artificial intelligence is announced by the EU. With the AI Act the EU intents to regulate the use of AI by setting different rules for different risk levels. The “unacceptable risk”, which is the highest risk, means threats to people, like cognitive behavioral manipulation and classifying people based on different characteristics or biometrics.

But apart from any legislation, which is much needed and welcomed, what is our role as a species on our interaction with AI? How can we ensure that its use is a tool and not an impediment? To what extend can we use it without limiting the potential brain plasticity and personal growth?

Let’s say that I am at university studying a foreign language. I have an assignment to do, like translating a piece of literature and write my thoughts and comments on it. This means that I have a thought process to follow. I must “decode” the text to my language, have a rough idea of what I want to write and elaborate my thoughts on paper (well, ok, on screen). On the way I have ups and downs, good ideas and bad ideas. At times I move forward quickly and other times I feel stuck. And it is then that I have to try harder. When I overcome an obstacle, I make progress, I’m going to the next level.

This is the drill for any thought process. You need to accumulate data, evaluate them and decide what is useful and what to throw away. You pursue to get the whole picture of the subject. When you don’t get it, you have to try harder. And you learn through the process, by getting a holistic thinking regarding your task. The road to it “is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery”. It’s the journey that gives meaning to the outcome.

With the effort, the discomfort and all the hardship, you also receive benefits: you train your brain, make it better, new synapses are formed. So when you arrive to the destination “wise as you will have become, so full of experience”, your brain is different to what it was before all this. And as a bonus, you also get that dopamine reward for all your effort. You feel good!

Now let’s imagine that I didn’t do any of the above. The AI did it for me. I just read what the AI machine wrote and did a retouch. I had a good grade and passed the class. But no learning, no experience gained. No new synapses, no training for my brain. No effort, no growth, no dopamine. No journey. Just Ithaka.

AI is a tool, and tools are useful. But how we choose to use the tool is critical. It’s a really scary thought for me what we might miss. The human brain is the most wondrous machine. Full of potential! And still a mystery. The research from neuroscientists has allowed us yet some glimpses on how our brain has the ability to change. The word neuroplasticity, that arose a few decades ago and has now become so popular, means that the brain can rewire to function in a different way. Fascinating brain potentiality! And there is yet so much to be discovered! Learning how our brain works, how it evolved and what are the tools we can use to promote its health and advancement is key.

A simple example is the phrase “think positive”. It might sound like a woo-woo thing or a cliche but there is some science backing it up: we now know that we rewire our brains by our thoughts and experiences. So thinking positively can be a tool you can use to strengthen neural pathways and release dopamine and serotonin, all of that associated with your well-being.

The scientific research suggests that meditation can stimulate neuroplasticity and potentially cause structural growth in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memory.

There is so much we don’t know. Focusing on learning how to evolve our brain, train it, explore it, use it the optimum way possible and expand its potential is crucial for us. We must aim on going to the next level as a species. Reach for the Übermensch. Giving up a small portion of thought process might not be harmful. AI is helpful and can save time. But it is getting smarter and the possibility of using it excessively and miss out on the human brain potentiality seems a pretty scary thing to me. A real FOMO.