A unique lecture-discussion called 'The Human Brain and Artificial Intelligence' took place at the House of Scientists in Krasnoobsk. It was led by Alexander Yakovlevich Kaplan — a psychophysiologist, Doctor of Science in Biology, professor at the Biology Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and head of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neurocomputer Interfaces.
The lecture brought together everyone interested in human cognitive resources, the nature of consciousness, and the limits of artificial intelligence. In his talk, Professor Alexander Kaplan touched on the topics like brain plasticity, the causes and ways to overcome stress in the age of information overload, and the prospects for the development of neurotechnologies.
Reflecting on whether artificial intelligence will ever be able to fully understand the nature of the brain, Alexander Kaplan emphasized that the key mystery lies in human ability to make non-algorithmic discoveries: "The biggest discoveries, in fact all great discoveries, were made in a non-algorithmic way. Scientists take guesses. That ability to intuit how the world works—it is a mysterious competence. The brain contains a million billion connections between neurons. A mental model of the world emerges from such a network. It comes to life and can offer us insights. It is a moment of revelation," the professor shared.
The final discussion really caught the audience's interest, during which the scientist answered numerous questions from the crowd. The main topic of the discussion was how, even with the rapid development of computing systems and the accumulation of massive amounts of data for science, the brain is still capable of coming up with action algorithms that ensure the survival of human civilization.
In the conversation, Alexander Yakovlevich also touched on the problem of modern humans being disconnected from their natural environment. Talking about how informational noise affects intuition and health, he gave a vivid example from his own life: 50 years later, he returned to Sakhalin, where he went to school, and saw how once lively settlements had emptied, and people had rushed off to the “concrete jungles”. That's exactly why, according to Alexander Kaplan, rural residents today have a whole bunch of advantages over city folks, and the desire of many people to have their own “house on the land” isn't whimsy or a quirk, but a pretty natural reaction of the brain to the changes happening around them.
"We can't properly regulate our bodies, we forget how to eat correctly, not because we don't know, but because we lack these feelings and sensations. A person who lives on the land naturally knows all this. A small child, if they live in the countryside, is more intuitive than an adult who grew up in the concrete jungle. We're cutting ourselves off from nature — that's a huge problem. You need to start from early childhood, from kindergarten and school, going on trips, talking about cows, bugs, and plants, so that they learn and absorb it, even if they’re city kids. Otherwise, we’ll lose that very sense of being connected to the world that makes us human,” the researcher emphasized.
Together with the director of the SFSCA RAS, corresponding member of the RAE, and RAS professor Kirill Golokhvast, Professor Alexander Kaplan visited the scientific laboratories and got acquainted with the complex of buildings of the Siberian Federal Scientific Centre of Agro-BioTechnologies RAS, and left a note in the 'Guestbook' of the entomology museum of artist Viktor Grebennikov.
"What I saw and learned cannot help but inspire admiration," admitted Professor Alexander Kaplan. "It seemed very important to me that the range of ideas and plans laid down by the founders of the Siberian Branch of VASKhNIL is still supported and maintained today by the employees of the SFSCA RAS. This continuity can be felt in everything – in the approach to research work, in the pride for their town, which was created as a science city, in a very special kind of 'gentle intelligence' typical of people in science. Discovering Viktor Grebennikov's work was a true revelation for me – like many others, I had his book as a child, but it was in the museum that I truly appreciated his incredible talent, not just as an artist, but as a researcher of a completely unique and still mysterious to us world of insects.
I want to thank the leadership of the SFSCA RAS and all the participants of the lecture-discussion for the opportunity to visit a place that's significant not only for Siberia but for the whole country, and for the interesting questions and active participation in discussing my report”.