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“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥.” — 𝐎𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞

autumnalsoul

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rosalesbeausderholle

One thing that worries me about the use of AI is whether or not it can worsen people's dementia and alzheimer's in the future. When my grandmother was first diagnosed, we got her math activity books. Now, my grandmother never had a formal education, but we did our best to keep her sharp, get her to do math and writing activity books, sudokus, playing board games that required some level of strategizing with her. Her family is prone to alzheimer's and dementia (both her siblings had it and deteriorated very very very quickly, which yeah, scares the shit out of me being her granddaughter) but she was the one whose mind lasted the longest, she only passed away two years ago, at 88, ten whole years after her initial diagnosis and sure, she had forgotten things, recipes and where she put her glasses and appointments, but she never forgot any of us, ten whole years in, she still remembered us. Now, this may have been luck, but doctors always said the constant mental work + companionship + medicine helped her a lot. So I'm thinking, these people who are now relying on AI for everything, from email-writing to thinking what's for dinner to casual conversations, I've even seen people rely on it to calculate what time they should leave their house if they need to be at a place at a specific time and their commute lasts X number of minutes. As if that's not... the simplest math operation possible? You shouldn't even need a calculator for that!!! Idk I don't know how long it'll take us to see the effects of this + exposure to brain-rotting short form content that is completely meaningless + people addicted to right-wing conspiracy style media. Idk I'm very worried. Please, read, read complicated books! Take up a book on philosophy and try to decipher it and make your own opinions on it, please buy a maths activity book and relearn how to do math, please get a hobby that involves lots of thinking and concentrating. PLEASE!!!

notalotgoingonatthisinstant

As a neurologist, I’ll give you the pretty name for it: cognitive reserve.

The way I explain it to my patients is that our neurons don’t regenerate. They make connections with each other and that’s it. If you don’t use your brain, they make fewer connections and, if one of them dies, you’re gonna miss it, because that was the only one that knew how to do X. Now, if each one of them has many, many connections, you won’t notice the difference when one of them dies. The others pick up the slack.

As of 2024, 45% of dementia risk factors are modifiable. Relevant to this conversation, 5% for less education and 5% for social isolation.

We absolutely are going to see the reflection of this, but it’s gonna take decades and it’ll be too late. So, for the love of your brain, pretend that it’s a muscle and make it work. People complain about “when am I ever gonna use this maths formula in my life?” You’re not. You’re teaching your brain to think logically. Those sinapses will be there for when you need to figure out your week’s schedule. English classes taught me how to interpret data and how to convey it in this text so it’s clear and you understand what I’m saying, not because I needed to justify why the curtain is blue.

Make your brain know how to do different things. Logic games, puzzles, taking care of a garden even if small, planning a church’s event or birthday, learn a new instrument, learn a few words in another language, look at a calendar every day, do some manual labor if possible. Do not, I repeat, do not let your brain get rid of sinapses by letting AI do everything. Your brain uses 20% of your body’s energy — do you really think it’s going to maintain connexions that aren’t in use?

Most cases of Alzheimer’s are sporadic, meaning no family history. Family history of a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s starting before they were 80yo increases your risk in 2-3x on average.

TLDR: Yes. From the knowledge we have today, AI will increase the number and severity of dementia cases.

omfg pls

welcome to the beyond. we’ve been waiting for you. your room is just how you left it. or would you rather be in the backseat of your mom’s car? we’ll set the year to december 2009 and play your favorite holiday songs on the radio as you both drive around looking at christmas lights. please note that this is a memory. we encourage you to enjoy the time you have. you can always revisit this moment, but you cannot live in a memory. would you like to forget? would you like to forget? would you like to forget? perhaps you’d rather lounge by the pond? the one filled with green algae, where the rocks you skipped in high school are buried. you can relive your first kiss. we’ve tried our best to recreate how it was. unfortunately, we cannot fully replicate his face, some things are simply lost to time. however, we can make the cicadas sing how they did that one summer. would you like to forget? would you like to forget? would you like to forget? maybe you rather share your room once more with your sister? you can appreciate it for what it is. you can share secrets once more and all your favorite barbies are here. they’ve been waiting for you two. please note, this is a memory. nothing you say now will change what has already been said. would you like to forget? would you like to forget? would you like to forget? or how about one more evening sitting on their balcony overlooking the cars on the highway? they’ll be your best friend once more. the smoke will sting your eyes and your ribs will hurt from laughing just like they used to in the before. unfortunately, once this memory is over, you will no longer be able to recall the conversation or their face. just the pain from the laughter and the lingering smell of smoke and summer air. would you like to forget? would you like to forget? would you like to go home?