Rei and Tara explore how digital interfaces are fundamentally rewiring our brains, from teenagers who can't organize files to MIT research showing AI's impact on cognitive activity. Through parenting experiences and historical parallels, they examine whether these tools are making us lazy, different, or potentially more capable in unexpected ways.

Key Takeaways

Your Brain on ChatGPT: The MIT Study

• AI-assisted writing shows significantly less brain activity than manual writing
• AI-powered essays: more polished but homogeneous
• Human writing: messier but more original
• The emergence of "cognitive debt"—what happens when we outsource thinking

• How search engines rewired our neural pathways over 20 years
• Memory vs. reference: we've traded memorization for association
• The coming neurological changes from LLM usage

• New AI releases are becoming the "new normal"
• Information velocity is exponentially increasing
• Humans at an "evolutionary moment" requiring adaptation
• Curation becoming more critical than consumption

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About the Hosts

Rei Inamoto: Creative entrepreneur and founding partner of I&CO, a global innovation firm with offices in New York, Tokyo, and Singapore.

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Rei's LinkedIn

Newsletter "The Intersection"

Tara Tan: Managing partner of Strange Ventures, an early-stage firm investing in the future of computing.

Follow Tara here:

Tara's LinkedIn

Newsletter: The Strange Review

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Culture and Code is a podcast about the biggest shifts in tech, business, and culture—before they go mainstream. New episodes on every Tuesday.