đź”— Have humans passed peak brain power?

Found this shared by Jonathan Haidt.

… across a range of tests, the average person’s ability to reason and solve novel problems appears to have peaked in the early 2010s and has been declining ever since.

We have moved from finite web pages to infinite, constantly refreshed feeds and a constant barrage of notifications. We no longer spend as much time actively browsing the web and interacting with people we know but instead are presented with a torrent of content. This represents a move from self-directed behaviour to passive consumption and constant context-switching.

But also:

Research finds that active, intentional use of digital technologies is often benign or even beneficial.

→ Regarding the tendency from “self-directed behaviour to passive consumption”, I feel this is such a key difference.

I was recently engaged in a conversation that touched on intentionality, which sounds almost universally desirable. We kind of want to be in charge, even though we are probably pretty delusional about how much actual agency we have. All of which reminds me of the free will discussion. But, coming back to the context of the digital realm, and how we are being served content that is to large degree intentionally (by others) designed to capture and hold our attention, we are often at the receiving ends of algorithmic curation. In one word: feeds.

We get a false sense of choice when picking from a preselected collection of items. If we pick a movie or show to watch, or music to listen to on [insert streaming service here], what’s the degree of freedom there? I wonder.

Also, this is not new. Now there is so much content available that we rely on algorithms to curate for us. When I grew up the TV program was set and on a fixed scheduled. It dictated our schedule (“Hey, it’s time for the 8 o’clock news”, or whatever it was back then.)

There were a couple of stations. If you started by deciding on the activity, “I want to watch TV”, then the next choice was pretty limited.

What I am pondering in the background here, coming all the way back to intentionality, is what kinds of structures would allow us to have more say in the matter. For example, what would it take and what would the process look like if one wanted to decided on, which movie to watch out any movie there is? As in, not from what bubbles up on your favorite streaming service, but from the entire library of content.

The closest I get to this is with music. I use Apple Music and the curation there is fortunately/unfortunately pretty unconvincing, meaning I haven’t formed any serious habit of listening to what is being recommended to me. I usually think of music before I even open the app.

Music has a nicer way of exploring and discovering related music. I try out some of the “people who like this also listen to X” recommendations. Often the results are delightful.

But with music, I rely much less on the app for inspiration. I start from the understanding that basically all music is available. No need to make purchasing decisions. Almost no friction. If I am in the mood for something, it’s right there. Also, if I want to be in a certain mood, I know just which music to listen to. I also mostly listen to albums, not playlists, which I assume is rare.

Before I ramble on…

Pick an album to listen to. Pick a book to read. Enjoy.