DeepSeek or DeepSink

Human evolution spans millions of years, with significant changes in the brain size from 450-600 CC to 1,400 CC in the past four million years. This growth has enhanced intelligence, particularly through the development of the prefrontal cortex, which improves thinking, decision-making, planning, and social behaviour, while better coordination between the brain's hemispheres has fostered multidimensional thinking. These advancements have allowed for complex social structures and greater emotional intelligence.

Today, the human brain contains approximately 86 billion neurons and around the same number of glial cells, bringing the total number of cells in the brain to roughly 170 billion, and one cannot imagine the network permutation and combinations of these cells. One human being consists of such a huge amount of data in the brain.

Try to remember the ‘70s and '80s era, when calculators were available, but as students, we were not allowed to use them in our exams, rather, we were forced to remember the periodic tables. Didn’t we object to the school’s rules? Didn’t we have a simple logic in our mind, if calculators are available, why should one remember the periodic tables? Now Gen-Z is asking us why to study when everything is available on Google with one click and as a parent aren’t we objecting to them?

The question is, if technology can do the work for you, why object?          

We have seen thousands of inventions, and some of them we are using happily, and some of them are increasing our worries. It varies from generation to generation. We were able to distinctly define the generation gap as our grandfather, father, and us. But now we are observing a generation gap between our two children with an age gap of 3 years. This is the speed of change in the generations, and our major concern is we are unable to grasp or process it and are not sure about our stand.      

Our academic evaluation systems were largely based on memory- the ability to remember and process with predefined logic.  This became the base of the concept of intelligent Quotient, IQ. We are evaluated based on our IQ, which is now challenged by the new concept of Emotional Quotient, EQ. Now, information technology is doing the job of IQ and becoming a handy tool to replace the process of memory and related processing functions. But is IQ or data processing using IT tools sufficient?

Are we mistaken in defining information as knowledge?    Because I know the capitals of various countries, am I scoring better in the exam and honoured as an intelligent kid? Just because I have access to the various videos about how to reduce weight, will I be able to reduce my weight? Or do I need to seek the help of a dietician? Will we be able to differentiate the information and knowledge? Will the AI tools be able to solve all my problems? Or will it be helpful to the professionals in providing accurate solutions in personalising my dietary plan? The latter is more applicable as I, as an end user, won’t be able to apply the information, while the professionals can apply the information to derive a more accurate solution for me. This is where the information is converted into knowledge. The information from AI tools will be more useful to professionals and will be risky if applied by the end-user without knowledge.

Can we stop technological advancements?

You may have whatever opinion about the technological advancements and their use or misuse, it is not in your control. Simply, you can’t stop it if you are against it. So, let’s understand the inventions and technological advancements.

Engineering inventions provided lifestyle-related comforts, while healthcare inventions provided solutions to health-related issues. However, information technology-related inventions are like oxygen. It is used in every aspect, including your physical, mental and social aspects of life.

So, data is becoming a new currency, and you are the product. So what do you like and dislike, your lifestyle and your interests become the key elements for the businesses and the policymakers. This currency is then used not only to analyse your mind but also to reprogram your mind in a good or bad sense. This, I believe, is a major threat that has already been used or misused. So, the merger of the policymakers and the rich business owners and how they use AI tools will decide the fate of human beings, either you will deep-seek or deep-sink. So, it is important to understand that the perceived threat is not from technological inventions but from the people you choose to run your country.

In simple terms, where are we doing wrong? We are reducing the use of our brains by excessively depending on technology. We are getting addicted to technology, and that’s the alarm.

Technology does not have wisdom; it only has data and processing algorithms set by humans. It simply calculates and processes the information stored on the World Wide Web and provides us with the outcome.

So, if our brain’s work is to be done by AI, then what will the human brain do? It’s a natural course that the unutilised part of our body eventually gets removed. So does it mean that the future will be in the reverse direction as that of human development? Does it mean that our brains will start to shrink?

The common fear that arises in our mind associated with the inventions is whether we are going to succumb to these inventions. We as human beings always want control over our lives, and inventions like Deepseek create the fear of loss of control and autonomy in our lives.

Here is the solution. One of the oldest texts of philosophy in India, Yogsutra, written by Maharishi Patanjali, defined the term “Sthitha-Pradnya”.  Sthitha-Pradnya can be defined in English as “equanimous”, which is formed when intelligence is clubbed with wisdom.

So, the answer to the fear of the unknown about the future of AI is that it is a technology that does not have wisdom, only intelligence. Technology is always neutral, its use or misuse depends upon the people’s wisdom who are using it. Not to worry much, we have seen the anticipated anxiety or fear at the invention of each new technology. But eventually, it has settled down. Rather, such inventions are like triggers to all of us to think about wisdom along with intelligence and how we as a society can move forward to be a Sthitha-Pradnya: intelligence with Wisdom. We, humans, will decide whether it will be Deep-Seek or Deep-Sink and not AI.     

Dr. Girish Lad
Founder Chairman
Texas School of Mental Health