How Does The Brain Work?

(I have no idea, and that's ok)

Author

Quinn Emmett
November 17, 2023

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Today: How the hell does the brain work? And what does it have to do with lemonade stands and school supplies?

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How Does The Brain Work?

If we want to unfuck the future, we’ve got a lot to figure out. But who has to figure it out?

Let’s back up, some context: we’ve already invented most of what we need to build.

And yet — there are some things we do still need to invent. Or at least improve on, or at least understand better, or…at all.

I have shared recently more of the madness behind how I think about how to think about what’s next.

One way I categorize fundamental pieces of the future is like this:

  • What we can’t imagine yet

  • What we already imagined, but don’t know how to build

  • What we already imagined, and we’re building, but it’s technically incredibly difficult and maybe unsafe (?) for whatever reason(s)

  • What we already imagined, already know how to build, but aren’t building (or building enough of) because it’s too expensive or because of political holdups (can be broadly or regionally applicable)

  • What we already imagined, already know how to build, and are currently building

This is basically the funnel through which most ideas and technologies pass, from soap to clean steel to both fission and fusion, cell-cultured meats to mRNA vaccines, solid-state batteries to GPT’s, immunological treatments and CRISPR.

Most of it fails. 

This, despite the best efforts of so many humans working on the frontlines of the future. So many, together, because it turns out innovations happen much differently than we think.

How do new technologies, medicines, etc proceed through that funnel?

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