We are structurally built this way: our organs strengthen with use and atrophy if not utilized. Our muscles lose strength if left unused for extended periods, and for those with sedentary jobs, it is necessary to resort to the gym or jogging to invigorate them. The same applies to our brain; if we don’t fully engage certain functions, they atrophy over time.
This happens, for example, with mathematical calculations or memory. Nowadays, few people still perform manual calculations, relying instead on calculators that can do them faster and without errors. We find it increasingly challenging to perform mental calculations, and we have almost forgotten multiplication tables.
What occurs is natural; an unused organ atrophies because it serves its original purpose less and less. Therefore, our control center redirects energy to other organs that function perfectly and require resources to operate at their best.
Today, we use many technological assistants to manage the complexities of everyday life. These valuable aides spare us from tedious and repetitive tasks, acting as specific supports that we handle independently, and aids capable of relieving us of daily burdens.
In a short time, we will have new assistants equipped with AI that will help us make decisions and, in some cases, even make decisions for us. We will live by delegating choices to technology and be less involved in daily routines, but routine is the gym for the mind that keeps it functional.
Therefore, in a few years, we will need mental gyms, not just libraries or books, but actual places to exercise and keep the brain in its best shape. Some may argue that when relieved of daily tasks, we can dedicate much more time to creativity, which will keep our brains in perfect shape, even better than before.
However, humans are inherently lazy and tend to choose the simplest and least strenuous things. It’s better to watch TV, use a tablet, or chat on social media than to strain the mind with everything that comes with it.
When we were hunter-gatherers roaming the world without a permanent home, our sensory-perceptual abilities (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile, including manual dexterity) were much more developed than they are now. However, we are slowly losing all these faculties.
Autonomous vehicles will take us where we want to go, but without the aid of our senses, which will be less and less solicited in driving. The interface to the world we know will become robots and AI, and our senses will become marginal for knowledge, relying more and more on technology to understand the reality in which we live.
Therefore, our creativity, not stimulated by continuous psycho-physical experiences, will soon be depleted. Thus, new gyms will be needed to strengthen the senses and thinking. This way, we can reclaim authentic emotions to maintain our experiences and the memory of our history.
Are we aware of this? Today’s gyms are necessary for good health; the future ones will be necessary to keep the mind in good condition, and the saying “a healthy mind in a healthy body” will soon become obsolete.
I am not a laggard; I simply like to question the ways technology is introduced, often dictated by immediate economic returns without considering potential risks. Economic development has brought wealth but also pollution and environmental crises, which we are (perhaps) addressing. The introduction of new technologies always has pros and cons.
For example, I am not a native English speaker, and for translation from my native language to English, I usually rely on my linguistic knowledge, Google Translate, and other suitable tools. This time, I had this piece translated into English by ChatGPT with excellent results. Did I learn something? Yes, because I checked the text and the terms used several times.
If I translate it again next time, will I learn something new? Maybe, but after several times, I won’t check it anymore, and I won’t learn anything more. In fact, my knowledge will start to regress. Is that what we want? Also, no thanks.
As always, being balanced will be the winning key. It is pointless to consume food and then go to the gym, just as it will be useless to lead a life devoid of stimuli and then seek a place to find them.
