By David Stephen who looks at Human Intelligence in this article.
How does learning new things, regularly, become easier? What is the mix for mastery — or its variations — to boost problem-solving, creativity, innovation and understanding? Why are adequate facilities and instructors no guarantees for universal education? What are the limits of human intelligence that AI tutors of present-day may not change?
There is a new [September 12, 2025] story by The Associated Press, Google’s top AI scientist says ‘learning how to learn’ will be next generation’s most needed skill, stating that, “One thing we’ll know for sure is you’re going to have to continually learn … throughout your career.”
AI Tutor
Learning new and unfamiliar things, for humans, is generally tough. Why? Probably because of how human intelligence [or its source] works. Even the best explanations, from the best instructors, with the best examples, facilities, practical and so forth, are not equal to the emergence of expertise, in the same instance. Those may also not be followed by creativity, problem-solving, innovation, understanding or even the ability to later recall.
This means that the challenges of learning are beyond another new facility, when [the way] human intelligence [works] remains unknown. Even if the pace of learning — or other aspects of it — does not change, if there is, at least, a probable chart on how human intelligence works, it could lead to learning designs, for what to optimize, for certain outcomes.
How does an individual learn if the focus is problem-solving? Would it be different if the focus is to be certified? How might that contrast learning for creativity, innovation or understanding?
How should human intelligence pivot now, with AI, having the capacity to do many of what human intelligence can do? How should learning be sculpted, not only for some outcomes, but to outcompete [if that’s even possible] AI?
Sketching Human Intelligence
What are the components of human intelligence in the brain? How do they interact and relay for outcomes like problem-solving, creativity, innovation and understanding? What activities are likelier to result in those, and how much time is necessary?
First, it is postulated that electrical and chemical signals are the configurators of intelligence, in the human brain. This postulation is derived from empirical neuroscience, establishing that all functions of the brain [for human experiences], are mechanized by neurons — with their electrical and chemical signals. Neurons, according to neuroscience, are also in clusters.
Secondly, it is postulated that electrical and chemical signals interact, in sets, to result in functions. Sets of signals are proposed to be available in clusters of neurons. There are also states that signals are, that determine the extents of interactions. There are specifications for interactions — and attributes — for intelligence. This is where progress is, to have it displayed, and used to prospect pathways for prioritized learning outcomes.
Advancing education in the AI era
There is a new [September 12, 2025] report by CBC, N.L.’s 10-year education action plan cites sources that don’t exist, stating that, “A major report on modernizing the education system in Newfoundland and Labrador is peppered with fake sources some educators say were likely fabricated by generative artificial intelligence (AI). Released last month, the Education Accord NL final report, a 10-year roadmap for improving the province’s public schools and post-secondary institutions, includes at least 15 citations for non-existent journal articles and documents. In one case, the report references a 2008 movie from the National Film Board called Schoolyard Games. The film doesn’t exist, according to a spokesperson for the board. But the exact citation used in the report can be found in a University of Victoria style guide — a document that clearly lists fake references designed as templates for researchers writing a bibliography. The 418-page Education Accord NL report took 18 months to complete and was unveiled Aug. 28 by its co-chairs Anne Burke and Karen Goodnough, both professors at Memorial’s Faculty of Education. The pair released the report alongside Education Minister Bernard Davis.”
There may not be a way to modernize the education system if the mechanism of human intelligence stays unknown. Even a conceptual design, moving knowledge forward, from the present opacity might make a lot of difference. The goal is not simply more tools, but how the mind learns and what to optimize for, in this new tug, with AI. Even as AI tutor becomes the latest trend, hope that they would transform education is slight, without directly exploring human intelligence — in the brain.
David Stephen currently does research in conceptual brain science with focus on the electrical and chemical configurators for how they mechanize the human mind with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
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