When I say that we're defined by how we're wired... I mean that literally.
Wired.
Each of us is walking around with 100 billion neurons in our brains. Think of them, each one, as information messengers.
Each neuron has, on average, about 7,000 connections with other neurons.
Each one.
That means we're also walking around with something like 600 trillion connections between those hundred billion information messengers. Which brings me to what we do with all those connections.
“Neuroscientists have been chorusing "cells that fire together, wire together" since the late 1990s, meaning that if you perform a task or recall some information that causes different neurons to fire in concert, it strengthens the connections between those cells. Over time, these connections become thick, hardy road maps that link various parts of the brain -- and stimulating one neuron in the sequence is more likely to trigger the next one to fire. Thus, says [neurologiest & educator Judy] Willis, "Practice makes permanent. The more times the network is stimulated, the stronger and more efficient it becomes."
These connections aren’t set in stone, however.
“Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity, is a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain. It is defined as the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections after injuries, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI)."
Neuroplasticity describes both the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to physical brain damage as well as experience. To be clear, neuroplasticity describes our brain's ability to change, reorganize, or grow neural networks in response to either internal or external events. Brain injury… is an example of an internal event. Learning… is an example of an external event.
“When people repeatedly practice an activity or access a memory, their neural networks -- groups of neurons that fire together, creating electrochemical pathways -- shape themselves according to that activity or memory. When people stop practicing new things, the brain will eventually eliminate, or "prune," the connecting cells that formed the pathways.” (Judy Willis, neurologist & educator)
How lessons and experiences can shape and grow your students' brains over time.
And there it is. The answer to the questions Why read Shakespeare? and Why read anything?
What difference does it make to read original source material versus reading a summary?
Well, it may seem like there’s no difference between reading all 16,000-some words of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and reading a Large Language Model’s quite shorter summary and analysis of the play… but here it is:
We are literally and physically wiring our brains differently.