14th March 2025

Similar to what I said last week about why I think that your mind and brain are different, this week I want to focus on the brain and explain why I also believe that your brain is not a computer.
Society seems to have developed this concept over time that the brain is really just a computer, a common misconception. But this is not really true when you think about it, because the brain is actually more specific and is also more general (another paradox). For example, whilst our brains are usually logical and very good at processing specific information, they often bring into play other more general ideas that we have learnt from other things.
The brain is best considered as a ‘thinking’ machine, which also has memory and storage capabilities, whereas computers should be thought of as being very good at storing and retrieving information, but which can also be programmed to do complex processes that seem to ‘think’ in some way. In fact, with the advent of ‘Artificial Intelligence’, some computers are now increasingly able to learn from themselves and then generate new original data to use, so appear to ’think’ more, especially if a task is more straightforward.
But that is not the same thing really. You have to be very deliberate and intentional in what you use your computer for (e.g. a computer is very reliable when retrieving information for you, or allowing you to develop a thought), but a computer is only a tool for you to use. Whereas your brain, whilst it also has to be deliberate and intentional to think, is more able to think for itself, but is not so good when it comes to remembering information.
What the brain finds easy is also what we feel is pleasant, so we have to be very careful to not let our brain rationalise something that we want to believe, just because it feels better to us. For example, it always amazes me how often I hear people trying to justify an argument logically, by rationalising it in a way that appears objective, but really is in a way that they just want to subjectively believe, but which objectively is very poor, bearing in mind the factual evidence.
We also need to free up our brain from trying to remember information, so it is then more able to think clearly. The brain should be used for thinking and freed up of storing unnecessary information. It is for creating ideas, not for holding onto to them. This may mean that you need to first unwire and then rewire your brain. You also need to try to keep your thoughts outside of your brain, so that you can then see them more fully, pull them apart and then restructure or refine them (i.e. think about your thoughts!) Often our minds are so cluttered up with trivial information that we then find it hard to think properly.
In fact, there is a famous story of how a reporter once interviewed Albert Einstein for an article, then asked for his telephone number if he had further questions. “Certainly” said Einstein, but then had to go to retrieve it from the phonebook before writing it down for the reporter (he would look it up on the internet or on his mobile phone settings these days!).
“How can it be that a man considered to have one of the greatest minds like yours, cannot even remember his own phone number?”, the reporter asked. “I never fill up my brain with information that I can find elsewhere – why should I memorise something when I know where to find it?”, Einstein replied.
Finally, you also need to remember that the brain is different at different stages of your life. It is more malleable and able to learn as a child (which people call ‘neuroplasticity’), it is more prone to as risk-taking as a teenage brain (by the way, teenagers are also more collaborative and able to connect with peers than children or adults) and many adults can become fixed in their thinking and use the brain unconsciously to rationalise thoughts that they want to believe (egged on by the mind!)
So, this week, once again, please think about what I have said about and try to start using your brain more for thinking, rather than just being a storage facility for remembering information like you do on a computer, which is different.




