Videos

Sunsets and AI

  • Hi. I'm Doctor Gina Clark out enjoying the sunset.

    I'm a psychiatrist and have a PhD in neuroscience, and I like to think about AI as it interfaces with human psychology and behavior.

    I recently came across two quotes that I think articulate really nicely something that many of us are puzzling over: the scope and reach of AI.

    The first quote is by Demis Hassabis, who is the CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind, DeepMind being Google's AI arm.

    He's also a 2024 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry - so quite a remarkable human being!

    He said, "Nobody's found anything in the universe that's non-computable. So far."

    That's interesting - it indicates that AI or other computationally-driven mechanisms might be limitless.

    In seeming contrast, I will quote some lyrics from Jesse Welles, quite a talented musician who recently had multiple Grammy nominations.

    He has a song called "Will the Computer Love the Sunset" in which he says,

    "Will the computer love the sunset?

    Will we midwife our demise?

    Can it calculate my love,

    and will it know how to be kind?"

    I think this is interesting - these on the surface seem like contrasting viewpoints, but I think they're speaking to the same set of questions:

    What is the ultimate reach of AI, and what might remain uniquely human, like enjoying the sunset?

    Thank you.

Why stop to actually smell the roses?

  • I'm Dr. Gina Clark, a dual-board certified physician with a PhD in neuroscience as well. I like to think about wellness science in real life, like this: Why stop to smell the roses? Obviously it can make your day better, and it also gives you brain practice at something called cross-modal integration.

    That's your brain's ability to connect multiple types of sensory input, in this case from your nose and eyes, to create a unified perception, including that of the rose. 

    A 2021 review in Psychology and Neuroscience by Karim and colleagues examined how these connections are enabled by neuroplasticity. Cross-modal integration allows the brain to adapt to changes around us, and should you have some sort of sensory loss, it can compensate. 

    Give it a try!

Attention is a spotlight. Choose where you wish to shine it.

  • Attention is a spotlight. In these days of many skilled attempts to hijack our attention, we still have choice about where to shine that spotlight.

    Our attention is a quiet power that cannot be taken from us: It's in our brains.

    We have an opportunity to shine our attention on what truly serves us and the greater good.

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