Is There Limits to Our Brains?

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In your wonderful piece in the new york time sunday review about the book, you suggested that in the last century, we've asked more and more and more of our brains. In many countries, actually dipping brains. So there's some evidence that may be, like we have massed out the capacity of our brains as solitary, silod individual organs. And this is why a lot of us feel overtaxed, stressed out. We really need to draw on these external resources, and we need to become more skilled at employing them.

Modern life has not been easy on our brains. Average IQ scores rose steadily throughout the last century. Now they appear to be leveling off. The problem, according to neuroscientists, may be that we have reached our neurobiological limits. Our brains simply can’t work any harder. Luckily, science writer Annie Murphy Paul has a solution. In her bold new book, “The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain,” she draws on a wealth of scientific research to show that we’re smarter when we get out of our heads. By offloading our memories onto our phones, making decisions based on our bodily sensations, using tactile tools to solve abstract problems, drawing inspiration from our surroundings, and arguing with our friends, we can access intelligence that exists beyond the confines of our craniums. In this episode, Annie explains how to do it.