It is particularly easy to “harp” on the negative impacts of our online tendencies. In doing so, what we lack recognition of, is that we also are walk-able machines of our own divisive nature.
That in itself sounds like convoluted Sci-Fi but it’s entirely relatable to those willing to believe it…
Remembering that belief is just a form of the lies we tell ourselves, and lies are the stories, both fact and fiction that shape our reality. The mechanics of the human mind, are much like that of a well connected computing device.
Through a series of cords our brain can process mass amounts of data, and scan images to our memory—like files to a hard-drive. One could say the concept of computers(one could say because it has been said) was inspired by the artistry of our anatomy.
In a new paper published in Cognitive Science, the authors argue that the nervous system fulfills four criteria that define computational systems. First, the nervous system is an input-output system. For example, the nervous system takes sensory information such as visual data as input and also generates movement of the muscles as output. Second, the nervous system is functionally organized in specific way such that it has specific capacities, such as generating conscious experience. Third, the brain is a feedback-control system: the nervous system controls an organism’s behavior in response to its environment. Finally, the nervous system processes information: feedback-control can be performed because the brain’s internal states correlate with external states. Systems that fulfill these four criteria are paradigmatic computational systems. -Psychology Today
It is quite easy for our film fantasies, to depict a world of artificial intelligence, because such figures are merely moldings of ourselves.
We are the machines, but unlike our electronic tools; we have not yet unlocked the ability to fully self-evolve. We learn new tricks and trades; some far better than others but as science shows, that is only a small fraction of our brain’s underlying capacity. After years of mankind growing and flourishing, we have yet to tap into the full potential of our minds that films so easily explore across a screen.
Maybe the tale of this is another well structured lie, and there is no untapped potential.
We have reached as far as we can see. Or maybe we are on a pause, for further mental development, because our mainframe is overpopulated with scenes of thought hindering imagery.
So how then can we overshadow or place 1st in the race of technology vs. the human mind?
What sets us a part from our machines is our capacity for compassion; the “human” element that book’s like I, Robot say A.I. will never achieve.
I think individuals need to find moments away, from constant sensory overload, to allow their minds to facilitate such emotions. Picking up books over apps or canvas’ over iPad’s is how you allow your abilities to flourish.
Various studies have shown that the strenuous use of our optical nerves in many ways blocks our minds full ability to process, create and react. Even as I write this I am further hindering my minds ability to extensively develop. A “Catch 22” for the modern times.
It again goes back to the thought premise of the mind as a machine. If you have 10 windows open on your laptop (this is not an SAT question), does it slow down your computer’s’ functionality to process data?
Your potential for untapped creativity, is waiting in the wings while you scroll through Instagram. This isn’t to say there is a Picasso in all of us, but if one detaches from the screen long enough, to explore putting pencil to paper, you can potentially make an impact that would otherwise not have existed.
Unlocking a skill that wasn’t quite hidden, just waiting in incubation.
The human mind is only limited to what we allow it to consume. Therefor one can never reach, outside the walls of their social media confines, if they do not make the attempt to pull-away. If you chose to be distracted, then the world will shift reality for you. Much like a computer with a virus. It may appear as an image or series of words, but if you allow its underlying purpose, to release it will breakdown the components of what was once a complex machine.
If our minds are the machines, as this babbling of words has repeatedly iterated and our overuse of media is the virus, then at what point do we clear our systems before these once complex mechanics are completely broken down?
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