How Neural Networks are Changing Our World and How to Adapt to New Challenges

The world is evolving at a breakneck pace. While new discoveries and inventions used to take years to reach us, it now happens in a matter of days. With the advent of neural networks, everything has only accelerated. How do we adapt to these changes? Let’s reflect on this for a moment.

An Endless Ocean of Information

The “old-schoolers” among us still remember the days when finding the information we needed required a trip to the library, where we would sit for hours, gathering data bit by bit. Much changed with the arrival of the internet. You no longer had to go anywhere; you just needed to know how to find information online. However, even that required a certain amount of intellectual effort and time.

Neural networks have turned everything upside down. Now, in a matter of minutes, we can find anything we want, and we don’t even need to exert a minimum of mental effort to process that information. Artificial Intelligence does it all for us. “Hey! Stop! Wait! Are you going to eat the candy for me too? Yup!” (as the old cartoon goes).

We can draw two main conclusions here. First, there is a lot of information. A lot. Finding anything is no longer a problem. The problem is not drowning in this endless ocean. As the saying goes, “the rescue of the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves.” The second conclusion: we have every chance of becoming lazier and less intelligent. The entire mental effort of a modern student often boils down to writing a prompt for a neural network so it can do their homework, write an essay, or produce a report.

The Great Equalizer 2.0

In the 19th century, Samuel Colt’s revolver was called “The Great Equalizer.” If you had one in your pocket, your physical stature and build no longer mattered as much as they used to. In our time, the internet and neural networks have become that equalizer.

It doesn’t matter who you are—a lonely shepherd from a Belarusian village or the son of a lord at Oxford. Your access to information is now the same. Everyone has the opportunity to find the necessary data just as quickly. Even translation from any language is no longer a barrier. A neural network will do it in seconds. This can certainly be considered one of the positive aspects.

When Critical Thinking Isn’t Enough

Now, let’s consider how to adapt to these changes. First and foremost, look at how we handle content. Its volume is growing every day. Neural networks tirelessly generate new articles, images, and videos. Fakes are multiplying. While critical thinking used to be enough to separate truth from lies, the development of AI is making this increasingly difficult.

This is where probabilistic thinking comes to the aid of critical thinking. Let me explain what that means. When we read a news story, an article, or watch a video, we should not a priori believe it is either the absolute truth or total nonsense. Instead, we should use the old principle of probabilism, which was conceived by the Ancient Greeks.

“Absolute truth does not exist. There is only the probability of truth.”

Based on our intellectual and other abilities, we can determine how likely the information is to be reliable. I discussed this method in more detail in my article “Probabilism: The Philosophy That Will Help You Survive and Stay Sane in Our Mad World.” You can read about the basics of this method and examples of how it works with information there.

Escaping the Bubbles

Another crucial aspect of this “brave new world” is the information bubble. I’m sure you’ve heard of this, and it doesn’t need much explanation, but I’ll summarize: modern algorithms are designed so that in your feed and search results, you only receive information that you like and that fits your worldview. Everything else is filtered out. This creates a false impression that everyone around you thinks exactly like you do.

Take a simple example: imagine two people, John and Peter. Let’s say John often Googles “survival courses,” reads news about the crisis, and follows channels about weapons. Peter, on the other hand, Googles “tours to Europe” and reads about startups and investments.

If they both type the word “Egypt” into a search engine, John will most likely see news about someone being eaten by a shark, while Peter will see beautiful photos of pyramids and offers from the country’s best hotels. They live in the same reality, but they see it completely differently.

The same applies to proponents of flat earth theories, anti-vaxxers, and so on. In social media feeds and recommendations, they constantly encounter only the information that further reinforces their existing worldview.

It is quite difficult to escape these bubbles. You can use incognito mode in browsers or clear your cookies, but the primary tool is the awareness that these bubbles exist, combined with our favorite tools: critical and probabilistic thinking.

Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis

Times change, and we change with them. Our task is to understand these changes and take actions that help us navigate them better while maintaining our mental and physical health. And, of course, we must continue to develop our own intelligence rather than relying on the artificial kind for everything.