Why Difficulty Keeps Us Strong by Dr. Timothy Smith

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Popular aphorisms such as "The obstacle is the way" or "Use it or lose it" express the notion that challenge, difficulty, and exercise form necessary drivers of strength, growth, and maintenance. Such aphorisms apply not only to the body but the brain as well. Cognitive aids have advantages but come with a cost that can include the loss of mental dexterity.

The firestorm of interest and investment in AI, especially around large language models since the introduction of ChatGPT 3.5 in November of 2022, has impacted every level of the economy and society. Institutions ranging from governments to universities and industries have embraced AI to help with diverse applications, from automated writing and translation to information summary and decision-making. Research has shown that individuals using ChatGPT can improve the quality and speed of their writing. In the MIT Technology Review, author Rhiannon Williams describes an experiment that compared the quality and speed of writing reports and press releases by authors who did or did not use ChatGPT. (technologyreview.com) The research showed that the chatbot helped increase writing speed by 40% and quality by 18%. Interestingly, the accomplished writers did not improve the quality of their writing with the chatbot, but the less accomplished writers improved their writing. In short, bad writers become better writers with ChatGPT, but good writers do not become great writers with it.  

In spite of the tantalizing possibility of the increased speed and quality of writing that ChatGPT offers, people, companies, and institutions looking not only at the short-term benefits of automated content generation need to think of the long-term effects of such automation. Cognitive and creative skills need stimulation to continue to grow, and reducing the pressure to think and create will eventually diminish these skills. The Industrial Revolution forever amplified human strength, allowing, in many cases, one person, with the help of a machine like a bulldozer or a tractor, to do the work of many people only armed with shovels or hoes. Such amplification of power moved many people away from manual labor on the land. It ushered in new types of labor that included more sedentary occupations centered in offices, such as writing, reporting,  and analysis. However, the marked reduction in physical activity for office workers contributes to physical decline, such as a loss in bone density and osteoporosis.

Research has demonstrated that weight-bearing exercise helps maintain healthy bone density and strength. Weight lifting helps build muscle and increase bone density, which has led to the proliferation of gyms and workout studios worldwide. The Industrial Revolution relieved many people of hard physical labor, creating a new problem for bone and muscle health. With the intelligence revolution happening around us, it stands to reason that we will most likely need the equivalent of a gymnasium of the mind to keep ourselves cognitively healthy. Research done in concert by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, The Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has demonstrated that individuals engaged in cognitively challenging work throughout their careers showed a significantly lower likelihood of developing dementia later in life. (publichealth.columbia.edu) Cognitively challenging work had fewer repetitive tasks. The research looked at individuals across a wide variety of careers and followed their mental health into old age. The work suggests strongly that ongoing education and cognitive challenges bode well for long-term mental health.

Pattie Maes, Professor of Media Technology at MIT, and Nataliya Kos'myna, a research scientist, have reported on their project called "Your Brain on GPT." Their work examined brain activity using an electroencephalogram or EEG of 55 volunteers performing tasks such as essay writing or computer code writing. They looked at brain activity during these tasks using ChatGPT, Google for search, or just their brain without assistance. (media.mit.edu) The EEG shows how different parts of the brain work. At the same time, the test subjects performed their tasks and found that those using Google to help had bright activity in the visual part of their brains as they looked at search results; the unassisted subject had strong activity in the frontal lobe and cognitive region of the brain while the GPT users had light brain activity overall. These findings indicate that LLMs and other AI already have relieved some of the brain's weight-bearing mental activities. As we advance, we will need to find and build new gymnasiums of the brain to keep ourselves mentally healthy as the cognitive world around us changes.

Dr. Smith’s career in scientific and information research spans the areas of bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, toxicology, and chemistry. He has published a number of peer-reviewed scientific papers. He has worked over the past seventeen years developing advanced analytics, machine learning, and knowledge management tools to enable research and support high-level decision making. Tim completed his Ph.D. in Toxicology at Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Washington.

You can buy his book on Amazon in paperback and in kindle format here.