Brain researcher Dr. Bernd Hufnagl: Go brain-friendly instead of digitally exhausted!
Dr. Bernd Hufnagl embodies agility. He rarely stands still, neither physically nor mentally, and he also sets a good pace in other respects. Where there’s Hufnagl, there’s energy! Better to be ready than done.
The well-known brain researcher worked for ten years at the University of Vienna and at the Department of Neurology at Vienna General Hospital, so you could say that he knows what he’s talking about. But even a brain researcher knows his limits.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he calls out in his lectures. “We don’t even know exactly what it is: consciousness and intelligence! People keep asking me about it, and the answer is: we don’t know! So, we are discussing something we don’t even understand!”
Dr. Bernd Hufnagl is a sought-after speaker about artificial intelligence these days.
Many people are interested in his opinion as a brain researcher: Is artificial intelligence a gift or a threat? Will it overtake humans?
“Of course, chatgpt is great for generating facts faster than any human can. But education, ladies and gentlemen, education is not just factual knowledge!”
Bernd Hufnagl says what has long been obvious. The education system, he says, has very little to do with education. In the end, it’s all about “cramming factual knowledge into pupils and then spitting it out again.” How much sense does that make? He asks the group and adds: “Chatgpt has a huge opportunity! And that is to finally show us how stupid what we are doing in the education system is. We don’t produce education!” The audience applauds and he says that he is not the first person to say this. So how can things get better? Can AI help?
Don’t trust AI blindly
Yes, he says, if we don’t blindly trust AI. Because in a search query on chatgpt, he tried it out on himself, only one word needed to be different and something completely different would come up.“ Try it out if you’re bored,” he recommends with Viennese wit.
“Question things! For hundreds of thousands of years, our brains have been constantly seeking confirmation for our preconceived opinions, beliefs, hypotheses and so on. We are constantly searching and don’t realize it! Really, we don’t notice!” In research, this is called the “confirmation bias”. People believe things or not depending on their preconceptions. According to Hufnagl, we need to be aware of this.
As a scientist, you want to precisely escape this influence, English “bias”, by not dealing with the question of true or false, but with an approach based on probabilities. Keyword epistemology. This way of thinking is not widespread among the population, which in his view would be a good thing, especially against the background of “confirmation bias”.
Dr. Bernd Hufnagl calls on people to question their own ways of thinking and to reflect on themselves again and again in a very dynamic and engaging way.
Impatience and attention deficit disorder
Another challenge he sees in connection with AI is the increasing impatience displayed by younger people in particular. We are probably all familiar with this: while watching a movie, we google where it is set or who is playing which role. It’s difficult to keep our full attention on just one thing.
When information is constantly available, it inevitably leads to a culture of instant gratification. This, in turn undermines the ability to be patient, to wait and not get an answer straight away. Bernd Hufnagl speaks of “a kind of digital ADHD” that can result from this. This is particularly problematic for people “with a more active anxiety center, as the constant availability and the feeling of not being able to miss anything can create additional stress.”
And the solution?
Dr. Bernd Hufnagl argues for a balance between digital efficiency and human reflection. He calls for work processes and the use of AI to be designed in such a way that they are in harmony with our biological and psychological nature. He says: “We need to constantly create a fit between humans and digital in order to remain healthy and productive in the long term.”
In addition to his lectures on the influences and challenges of AI, he also talks about stress, burnout and mental health, brain-friendly working and how we can find more respect and empathy. He explains what the framework conditions for brain-friendly working could look like or how we can move away from a culture of complaining towards a problem-oriented approach. He also talks about the bio-logic of leadership, courage and willingness to change and brain-friendly working in the New Work era.
Dr. Bernd Hufnagl brings dynamism and plenty of food for thought. If you are not afraid of clear words and would like to bring a breath of fresh air to your event, book Dr. Bernd Hufnagel as your next “Premium Speaker”: 1 (704) 804 1054 oder welcome@premium-speakers.com