Throughout history, what we value as a society has changed. Land, minerals, and manufacturing know-how have been the source of value for most of human history. In recent years, creative and critical thinking abilities have begun to shape national economies. It is only recently, with advances in neuroscience, that we have begun to understand how the brain functions creatively and critically.
Our brains have a working memory that can be brought to bear on novel problems. As vast as our brains are, they still can only contain a finite amount of information. In many cases, that information is sufficient to solve the problem. But as we experience situations that are unique, what we have stored in our working memory is inadequate.
When this happens, we stop thinking of the problem consciously and our brains go through a period of incubation. It’s a familiar experience when you are stumped by a crossword clue. You put away the crossword puzzle only to return to it later. During the incubation period, our brains begin to subconsciously think through ideas stored in our memory. Many of these may be only remote connections to the original problem. This is called the reconsolidation phase in thinking about the problem. Connections begin to emerge that were not considered when we consciously thought about the problem. That’s when the aha moment occurs and you figure out the crossword clue.
Unfortunately, the consolidation that is critical for creative and critical thinking only works with information that is in our long-term memory. That information comes from previous problem-solving efforts.
When these previous problem-solving efforts were basically “click-and-find” experiences, no information is stored in our long-term memory. When artificial intelligence (AI) is used to solve problems, the brain’s ability to think creatively and critically never develops the infrastructure it needs.
While AI may provide an economic spark in the short term, it has the real potential of destroying the very basis of future economies. As farmers would say: “We are eating our seed corn”.
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“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”–J. Wellington Wimpy (a character in the Popeye comic strip who looks for short-term satisfaction without thinking about longer-term consequences)