One of the characteristics of the brain that is being investigated and that arouses the most hope is reality. Said in a few words, it means that brain function can have problems, and many. But it is capable of generating as many or more solutions than the problems that may appear.
Realizability is a characteristic of complex operations that allows the existence of many different mechanisms to solve the difficulties that arise. Because, as it is easy to suppose, the brain, in this case, is not exempt from errors and failures in its operation. It is not strange that one of the 500 trillion neural connections that the brain has has a problem. And more in a brain subjected to constant interactions with the environment, which are often difficult and push it to the limit.
But the system, in this case the cerebral functioning, in the same way that it can break down, has an extraordinary weapon against these inevitable problems: the existence of many ways in parallel to solve them. That feature is multiple realizability. So if there is a problem that blocks path A, there are many alternative paths. The same as if you go down a street in a city and it is closed to traffic, the world does not end. There are alternative routes, and taking a detour most of the time you can reach your destination. Turing, the initiator of artificial intelligence, is considered to be the forerunner of this idea.
In the nervous system this realizability is very important. Thus, there are 20 million circuits, which generate between 100,000 and 200,000 different possibilities of opening the pylorus, the exit door from the stomach. And that there are only a few neurons that generate the “pyloric rhythm” of opening. That is, there may be problems in the operation of the stomach gate, but there are many possibilities to compensate or solve those problems.
This reality is also taken for granted, with greater intensity, at the cerebral and mental level. Life’s problems, stress can end up giving rise to mental disorders that generate suffering and disability. But the brain and mind have many types of responses to this disturbance. What you have to do is get down to work to find those answers that will allow you to get out of the quagmire
This versatility of brain function gives us hope that we can find ways to solve problems for which no solution was seen.
However, there is often a tendency to throw in the towel too soon in the face of problems, the great diversity of possible solution paths is not explored. There are cognitive studies that show us the existence of biases in the analysis of reality and that give rise to the fact that people tend to respond to problems following a few response patterns.
In relation to reality, the bias that affects us is what specialists in reasoning call “availability bias.” As Dobelli points out,* “we create an image of the world based on the availability with which examples come to mind… So doctors have their preferred therapy, perhaps there would be more appropriate treatments but they don’t have them present in their heads. “Business consultants are no better. If they find themselves in a completely new situation, they won’t throw their hands up, but will start one of their usual procedures”
In other words, it has been seen that professionals generally limit themselves to looking for the best-known solutions, the ones they always use, the ones that are “closest to hand”. This cognitive bias is comfortable, but it is not very effective, because from the perspective of realizability, it is not very operational and decisive.
In relation to mental disorders, this entire perspective allows us to hope that more models, more strategies, will be sought, because our own brain and our mind have many ways to go forward and solve the problems that arise in their functioning.
Cited book: “The art of thinking. 52 errors of logic”. Rolf Dobelli. Editions B. Barcelona