What if daydreaming, slowing down, and even listening to your own heartbeat could make you think better? As AI races ahead, University of Cambridge neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow argues that the smartest response may not be trying to keep up, but rediscovering the distinctly human intelligence we already have.
Stories about the growing power of the most advanced AI models – and its impacts on society – are constantly in the news but scarce attention is paid to how we, as humans, can improve our unique cognitive abilities in a time of such seismic technological change. Which is where Dr Hannah Critchlow, a neuroscientist, keynote speaker and Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, comes in. “We're using information about our own intelligence to inform the development of AI but I wanted to flip that knowledge of the neural circuitry to look at how we can harness the true human cognitive capacity available to us,” explains Hannah, of the thinking behind her latest book, The 21st Century Brain. “I wanted to explore how we can increase our emotional intelligence, be more creative, and fuel our brains much more effectively.”
To do this, first we need to ensure that we are functioning at our absolute best. We’re all well-versed in the basics: the need for physical movement, eating well and getting enough sleep. But lately, one area of scientific research has focused on how important these fundamental habits are for the brain’s energy system in particular (although the brain represents just two per cent of body weight, it consumes about 20 per cent of our energy at rest). “When I was studying cell and molecular biology, mitochondria were thought to be quite dutiful but a little bit dull. The power stations of the body, rather than the stars of the show,” says Hannah estimating that in total, we carry an estimated 10 million billion mitochondria, collectively accounting for roughly a 10th of our body mass. “Recently, scientists have begun to suggest that these minuscule structures underpin the health of our cells.”
If we increase our physical and mental exercise, mitochondria sense the need for more energy to create brain waves, and they start to multiply (through mitogenesis). “Increasing the capacity for generating energy means you can think and feel more intelligently. Studies that have linked the number of healthy mitochondria to heightened arithmetic ability, information processing speed, reasoning, and even IQ,” continues Hannah. Sleep helps to remove defective mitochondria; eating healthily provides them with the fuel they need to flourish.
Perhaps obviously, creativity is a key area where humans and technologies differ. “That too many of us don’t believe ourselves to be creative is almost certainly the biggest block to our individual and collective creativity, and it’s being stoked by paranoia about AI having already rendered our creativity obsolete. Nothing could be further from the truth. AI systems have no intrinsic desire to create something; they’re just reacting to prompts. Active engagement is lacking,” argues Hannah in The 21st Century Brain. “[For humans] the value comes from the process of writing a book so you wouldn’t ask Chat GPT to do it. If we’re going to evolve alongside AI, thrive in an increasingly polarized world, tackle pressing challenges and experience greater well-being and more personal satisfaction, then it is imperative that we protect and develop our creative capacities.”
The eyes, ears, and other senses bombard the nervous system with about 11 million bits per second of raw data from the environment, of which we are aware of only around 40 bits per second
New brain imaging tools are helping scientists understand how creativity arises, with research suggesting that spontaneous mind wandering is not only an incubator for innovative ideas but allows us to access some of the vast amount of information stored in our brain that’s usually unavailable. “It’s incredibly healthy brain time. Alpha waves – one of the slowest of the awake brain waves – are very high when we’re in this mind wandering state and they are linked to creativity,” continues Hannah, citing a 2019 study published in Psychological Science which indicated that at least 20 per cent of our creative ideas occur during this time. “It pays not to be completely focused on particular goals all the time.” What’s also interesting is that paradoxically, AI might prove to be a catalyst for society placing greater value on creativity – something which hasn’t always happened in the past.
Much like prioritising time to be creative, we can also exercise other innate traits such as emotional skills, empathy and interoception. The latter, says Hannah, allows us to tap into signals from others and our environment that the conscious mind would otherwise miss. “The eyes, ears, and other senses bombard the nervous system with about 11 million bits per second of raw data from the environment, of which we are aware of only around 40 bits per second. A huge amount of information from the outside world, including cues given off by the people around us, are stored in our peripheral nervous system,” she continues.
Hannah cites several studies which found that something as simple as listening to your own heartbeat after exercising increases that interoceptive ability. One such study with Wall Street traders even showed that those who could “very accurately count their heartbeat and listen to signals from their body, made better decisions during a period of high volatility and uncertainty in the financial market.” She continues: “it works through embodied cognition by sending signals to the insula in the brain which senses our environment, taps into the collective intelligence in the room, and integrates that information into our decision making.”
In a world of social media and the spread of misinformation – as well as the very real possibility of being misled by AI in the future – taking advantage of collective human intelligence is more critical than ever. “Getting a group of diverse brains together and communicating effectively means that we can see the world more clearly, problem solve and innovate more effectively,” says Hannah. “It is increasingly clear that intelligence in the context of a mega-group rests on our capacity to harness emotional intelligence and develop empathy with others.” Synchronising brain waves, which can be boosted by activities such as singing in a choir or direct eye contact, supports this.
Another notion explored in the book is that rather than lament our individual inability to process data as fast as AI, perhaps we would do better to learn to appreciate the benefits that comes with human slowness. To appreciate that there is untapped potential for clarity, insight and creativity when we lean into thinking slowly. “Our success in this hyper-connected world will be determined not by our understanding of the tech itself but by our ability to behave intelligently in our continually updating environment. We cannot afford not to understand what’s at stake, to deskill ourselves through over-reliance or sidestep the necessary hard thinking about how we want this powerful tool to be used,” she concludes. “To future-proof our brains, we must think about using AI to complement our own skills.”
The 21st Century Brain: Cutting Edge Neuroscience to Help Us Navigate the Future (published by Torva) is out now.
Dr Hannah Critchclow