Learning to Flourish in the Age of AI

by Stephen M. Kosslyn

This timely book affirms that humans can flourish in the Age of AI by relying on their distinctive strengths, and explores the skills and knowledge that are required to interact effectively, efficiently, and responsibly with AIs, both today and in the future.

In Part I, this book develops the "Cognitive Amplifier Loop," which allows humans to use AI to build on their cognitive and emotional strengths and manage their limitations. Kosslyn discusses ways to employ this loop to offload tasks to AI and to utilize it to train us effectively and efficiently, as well as how to use it to both learn and engage in critical thinking, creative problem solving, and manage cognitive and emotional constraints. Part II establishes how to draw on the Cognitive Amplifier Loop to help us improve our human relationships, addressing emotional intelligence, effective communication, leadership, followership, and collaboration skills. Finally, Part III builds on previous chapters to consider how to interact with AIs to help each of us learn and grow. Throughout the book, Kosslyn provides practical strategies and AI-assisted exercises to help readers develop these essential skills and knowledge. Kosslyn argues that by cultivating distinctively human capabilities, we can not only coexist with AI but flourish in an AI-infused world.

This book is a must-read for anyone involved with AI, education, or Learning and Development in industry. It will also appeal to anyone studying thinking and decision making, AI and psychology, and the use of technology in the classroom.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 11, 2024

About the author

Stephen Michael Kosslyn (born 1948) is an American psychologist who specializes in the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Until 31 December 2010 he was John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in Memory of William James and Dean of Social Science at Harvard University, having previously been chair of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. As of 1 January 2011, he became director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Kosslyn received his B.A. in 1970 from UCLA and his Ph.D. in 1974 from Stanford University, both in psychology. His Ph.D. advisor was Gordon Bower. His former teaching career includes Johns Hopkins and Brandeis Universities.

Kosslyn is known primarily for his research and theories on mental imagery. His theory is that, contrary to common assumption, imagery is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it consists of a collection of distinct functions, which are responsible for different aspects of imagery. For example, he decomposes imagery into four sets of processes, responsible for generating the image (i.e., activating information stored in long-term memory and constructing a representation in short-term memory), inspecting the object in the image (e.g., by reinterpreting it), maintaining the image over time, and—possibly—transforming the image (e.g., by rotating it, adding or deleting parts, or changing the color). His research, which includes fMRI-imaging and similar techniques, has located some of these functions to different neural networks, some of which are in different cerebral hemispheres of the brain. For example, his laboratory demonstrated that the left half of the brain is better than the right at encoding categories and generating mental images on the basis of categories, whereas the right half of the brain is better than the left at encoding specific examples or continuous distances and at generating images that have such characteristics.

Kosslyn also works on visual display design, showing how psychological principles can be used to produce displays that can be read at a glance. Most recently, he has extended this work to showing how psychological principles of perception, memory, and comprehension can be used to make and deliver PowerPoint presentations.

He has received numerous honors for his research. These include the National Academy of Sciences Initiatives in Research Award, the Prix Jean-Louis Signoret, and three honorary doctorates (from the University of Caen, France; the University of Paris-Descartes, France; the University of Bern, Switzerland). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Society of Experimental Psychologists.

Kosslyn has published over 300 scientific papers and written or co-authored 15 books and edited or co-edited 13 books; his authored books include Image and Mind (1980), Ghosts in the Mind's Machine (1983), Wet Mind (1992, with Olivier Koenig), Elements of Graph Design (1994), Image and Brain (1994), The Case for Mental Imagery (2006, with Thompson and Ganis), Graph Design for the Eye and Mind (2006), Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations (2007), and Better PowerPoint (2010). He is also the co-author (with Rosenberg) of the textbooks Psychology: The Brain, the Person, the World (2000, 2004), Psychology in Context (2006), Abnormal Psychology (2010), and (with Smith) Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain. His forthcoming Top Brain/Bottom Brain (with G. W. Miller) develops a new theory of "cognitive modes" -- different thinking styles that affect how each of us approaches the world and interacts with other people.

Reviews

[Zach Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tedious read. The volume of full-length, pasted AI responses to prompts made by the author really made for a difficult read. Those parts could have been truncated and more of the author’s knowledge of learning science and concepts for use with AI would have been greatly appreciated.