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After many many decades of people
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debating [music] this, you might have
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figured out the reason why we dream.
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Yes, and it's a simple answer. So, if
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you go blind, the visual cortex at the
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back of the brain gets taken over by
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hearing and by touch and by other
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things. In fact, our colleagues at
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Harvard did an experiment where they
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blindfolded normally sighted people, and
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you could start seeing that takeover
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happening after 60 minutes. And that's
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when we realized, "Wow, the purpose of
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dreaming is to defend the visual
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territory from takeover from the other
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senses." Well, what fascinates me about
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brain plasticity and what I've devoted
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my career to is figuring out the way
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that we can [music] be the sculptors of
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our own brains and how it gives us an
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opportunity to become the kind of person
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we would like to be. And can we do that?
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Yes. Here's the thing. Your brain peaked
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at the age of two.
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Okay, so at the beginning, you've got
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fluid intelligence, meaning you could
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learn anything. But now that you have
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grown up in this world, you've got
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crystallized intelligence, meaning you
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know how to drive a car, you know how to
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operate a cell phone, you know how to
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run a business. And so, your brain
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doesn't require as much change, which
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means that the structure of the brain is
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always degenerating. So, what are the
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set of actions that will fundamentally
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change my brain and make me that type of
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person who's motivated and disciplined
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and who has high agency and attacks the
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world? So, this is something I've
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studied in my lab for decades now, and
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the key is that
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And what about AI and the social media
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debate as it relates to brain
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development?
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>> Well, I happen to be a cyber optimist
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for young people. I think it's going to
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make them much smarter than the
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generation that came before. And here's
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why.
