Learn, Learn...For everything there is a season.

Leonardo da Vinci said, “Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” We are learners by nature. One day when AI has overtaken us in relation to some forms of intelligence, it will still never become us because of how we learn. The reality of human existence is that our minds literally change when we learn. Our brains, through neuroplasticity, are physically different when we learn. Interestingly aligned with this reality, the first time the Nobel Prize was shared, was in 1906 when both Camillo Golgi and Ramón y Cajal were honored for their studies of the human neural system.

Growing on their studies over time we have come to learn that Synaptic strengthening happens when we use the same pathways over and over. Repetition allows us to retrieve information faster and faster because the synaptic network grows and makes new connections.?Our brains have this amazing ability to reorganize themselves by rewiring and growing connections. And, the good news is, it turns out old research was wrong…Our brains continue to grow through life and we use way more than 20% of them at any time.

As we all explore AI and begin to see the growing influence on our lives it can feel threatening when AI generates a poem or produces artwork, or criticizes our posts on social media. There are fundamental differences in the way AI learns and we learn. AI needs massive amounts of data to learn. We can learn from a single experience. We recognize the context and adapt to it, while AI struggles outside of its dataset. We are inherently creative and adaptive and AI, well it can only work within the data it has ingested. Our learning is greatly influenced by emotions and social cues guide our response. AI hasn’t reached that stage of awareness (yet). In the end our brains learn by growing and changing and AI learns through algorithmic analysis of data.

Today I am in San Antonio visiting my father. My dad is in the late stages of significant cognitive decline. My life's journey was hugely influenced by him and his way of living. He taught wood shop and auto shop, served as a vocational director, and served at OSPI in vocational program services (What we now call CTE). Both he and my mom helped me find my way into education. Sadly, he has reached a stage in life were it is clear his mind is no longer growing, in fact he is a fun blend of an infant, child, and teen in terms of his cognitive abilities. And, to be honest many of us are too, we just make the choice to be like that, he does not.

It reminds me that we are all given the gift of each day, and we never know how many we will have, or if we will be fully present for all of them.?While our minds are designed to grow and make new connections, the other truth of humanity is that we reach the end of our days. How we have lived them and the influence and impact we have made is part of life's purpose. Da Vinci lived his life with what he called, "Persistent Rigor". I know my dad did too, and I hope to learn how to follow in his footsteps.