What is a Thought? How the Brain Creates New Ideas (Henning Beck TEDxHHL)

Created by Baruš Jeřábková

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJfFMoAgbv8&t=1s

Don't do it like computers

How do we make use of it to stay creative and innovative in the future?

many people think it's important nowadays to work harder, faster and more efficient to solve problems

But that's exactly what machines can do!

try to provoke yourself time to time

read something you disagree with

haev a productive argument with a friend

try to see things from the other side

try to challenge your opinions instead of confirming them

try to break the thinking rules instead of following them

Every efficient procedure will be replaced by algorithms eventually

What cannot be replaced?

Inefficient thinking

integrating new ideas

In order to spark new ideas you should do the opposite

we create echo chambers, filter bubbles around us

the FB algorithms filters all the online posts that are suitable to us

Most of our friends share the similar points of views

we don't like other opinions

giving rise to understanding of stuff

we use media to confirm our beliefs but never to challenge them

3. Escape the echo chamber

Nowadays it's so easy to be surrounded by convenient but non-inspiring opinions.

therwise it won't be possible to put the same things into a new context

How do we do that?

this is a great technique many creative geniuses used (to be kissed by a muse)

get involved, dig in... and than step back, do something unrelated - not a new problem but chillax

2. step back

The pattern of getting new ideas under the shower, driving a car, washing dishes... - automated routine or boring stuff, we seem to clear our mind and attract new ideas

1. We take breaks

we sleep

exactly what I do

create a kiss-friendly amosphere for such a muse

we lose attention and focus, get distracted

this seems inefficient a first sight, but sometimes it's very effective

we step back and see the same things in a different context

Because if we dig into the data, just rely on data and information, and never step back to take time off to understand the whole picture of it, you'll never be able to make sense of it!

and because

children are able to understand the meaning of new things at first sight. That's amazing - and we do it as well

impossible for computers

and understanding is how you use the information to change your knowledge

When somebody else says "this is a good idea"

this social interaction, social feedback, this try and error, this social practice CANNOT BE DIGITIZED right now

truly new ideas will stay analogue in our future

Brexit - Swexit.... Breturn

Never seen before but understand it on the spot

data is the same, information is different

example

No computer is able to follow that problem, but we are able to understand it within a minute

If this is a flower, this would be a tree. If this is a flower and this is a tree, what would this be? A forest. Or a garden...

If this is a child, what could this be? A grown-up. Than what is this? A family.

what is a good idea? There is no criteria

we understand very fast, on the spot

when we come up with a new thought and new activity pattern without knowing before, whether this is correct or not

it's similar to an orchestra

When the musicians don't play any music yet, you have no idea what melody are they able to play - when you look at the brain from outside, you have no clue whatsoever thoughts this system is able to thin

The music is among the players when they synchronize with each other - the thought is among the brain cells when they synchronize with each other

a thought is not located anywhere

this kind of thinking gives us a great advantage when it comes to creating new ideas

we call it CONCEPT (CATEGORIZED) THINKING

brain doesn't distinguish between processing and output

because processing the information is the thought itself!

A thought is how the brain cells interact and how they process the information

but intelligence is nothing special

what is a mistake?

explanation based upon an example

Who thinks that the last three things are also chairs?

then we can see chairs everywhere

very different to a computer becaue it will always be just

without mistakes.

but if you don't do any mistakes, you end up at the place you were programmed for BUT NOWHERE NEW!

computers are intelligent

no computer will ever rule the world because intelligence is not enough!

you need to be a rule breaker, a game-changer, crazy and creative

it's called deep learning

we understand that a chair is not a special shaped object but something you can sit on

we can create new chairs with new designs and features

big difference to computer

itelligence means that you follow the rules as fast and efficiently as possible

but not to change rules!

and it's the mistake in our thinking, not the perfection, that separates us from the noncreative machines

computers learn

= thought

deep learning is great but

deep understanding is better

Activity pattern

an activity state of that specific neuronal network

but learning is nothing special

animals learn

because when you learn something, you can unlearn it

but once you understood it, you cannot de-understand it again

because nderstanding = changing the way you process information

but if you have a lot of them,

You see how powerful our way of thinking is!

brain cells are dumb on their own - cannot do anything much

when an input hits our eyes

it's processed by the sensory cells in our eyes

they get actuated and actuate the neighbors in the neural network

because we think with a trick (simplified model of our brain in action)

:) this guy differs from this one by 50% in it's data, but for us, it is 00% difference

brains do not break down

unless you apply some external force or alcohol....

Fundamental pricniple of how we think

that's grat when you don't do any mistakes

that'swhycomputersbreakdown

99% self-oriented

Most of your erve fibers never get outside of your skull

most of the brain cells never see what's going on in reality

you plug it to the internet ang you're connected to the world

input → processing → output

when comuter faces a certain problem,, it goes like this:

You have an input, then you process that input according to the algorithm and then finally reaching an output.

(commands what to do)

how does it do that?

computer would need much much more steps to be able to do the same

does mistakes billion times as often as computer

no mistakes

the ultimate edge we should appreciate and be proud of, because this is what makes us

HUMAN

But it still works!

Brain is lame, lousy and selfish 😀

500 operations max. speed

That's why we understand the world instead of analyzing it

easily calculates 3.4 billion times a second

We are able to see a face immediately. Not just a bunch of fruits and vegetables

each one of us can easily outperform every computer system

We don't know yet.

Brain

What is the next idea worth spreading?

But it will be created by brains.

but the opposite: we are slower, irracional and imperfect

When you have something on your mind (picture, image...)

brain compared to computer

Computer

you can see it very precise and switch very easily, much faster than a computer

not because we are smarter, faster and more intelligent than computers

What's going on when

hard to investigate

more interesting 🙂

most of it runs subconsciously

what is that kind of thinking?

This is happening in your mind when you use the information to change the way you think

having an idea

acquiring knowledge

understanding stuff

You can Google information but you cannot Google an idea

mobile devices

internet everywhere

many tools to acquire information

Never mix up information with having an idea or knowledge!

when you have thousand thoughts

Information

What is going on in your mind when you use information to give rise to new thoughts?

it's important because information is all around us

we think it's all about data

only one

is just collection of letters and numbers signs you can process electronically

Data

when are you really innovative?

no meaning

you can measure

you can't measure an idea