Time to get inside your brain

Today you and I are going to dive into the depths of our minds; we’ll talk about the surprising similarities between the way we think and the way computers work, and about how we can “reset” this system.

I have so much to tell you, and plenty of stories I’ve been saving up. But today, rather than a personal memory, I’d like to share a mechanism you may well be familiar with but have probably never given much thought to: the way our brain works. Especially now, when artificial intelligence (AI) is on everyone’s lips, it’s worth looking at the parallels between the human mind and computer algorithms.

In fact, AI produces an “average” answer by imitating our neural networks. I’m not using the word “average” here as a put-down, but as a mathematical definition. AI picks the pieces most relevant to the topic from its vast pool of data and offers you the statistically most plausible result.

Autopilot: The Amygdala

Just like AI, we too have a region that runs on “automatic gears”: the amygdala. This ancient part, which has been with us for roughly 300 million years, is our most loyal friend when it comes to survival. In moments of danger or in bursts of anger, it releases cortisol and adrenaline and puts us into “fight or flight” mode.

The amygdala has one fundamental ambition: saving energy. That’s why it is so insistent that we keep repeating the habits we’ve learnt throughout our lives. But if we hand the wheel over to it entirely in the modern world, we can never get beyond an “average” profile. This is exactly why AI-written texts on platforms like LinkedIn feel “soulless” today; each of them is simply a reflection of the average.

Manual Control: The Prefrontal Cortex

So how do we break out of this automatic loop? The answer lies in our brain’s manual gearbox, the prefrontal cortex. This is the centre that only kicks in when our awareness grows.

These days, through social media, we keep bombarding our brains with a shower of “cheap dopamine”. You might say, “What’s the harm in that?” But the real problem is that our ability to concentrate (focus) slowly fades away. Once your brain becomes hooked on that easily available dopamine, it stops wanting anything else that takes effort.

If, at that very moment, you declare, “I’m never looking at social media again!”, the amygdala immediately goes on the defensive, stops you in your tracks and won’t allow it. The way to break this resistance is to connect with the cortex without “annoying” the amygdala.

How to Reset the System

Rather than sharp statements that trigger the amygdala, such as “I’m giving up Instagram completely”, it is far more strategic to say, “Today I’ll only check Instagram at 12:00.” This approach doesn’t make your primitive brain feel threatened. When the moment comes, going for a short walk or simply taking a deep breath makes it easier to shift over to the cortex.

Once you’ve crossed that threshold of awareness, when 12:00 comes round, Instagram won’t even cross your mind. And so you regain your most precious ability: the power to focus. Remember, it is only through deep focus that we can finish our work and keep time management in our own hands.

While writing this piece, I was inspired by posts from my friend Yusuf. If you’re curious about deeper technical details on how the nervous system works, I’d definitely recommend having a look at this page.

I jotted this piece down in my notebook while I was in Athens last month. Thinking and writing while travelling is such a pleasure. Going somewhere foreign drives our brain wild and wears it out; being pulled out of its autonomous system unsettles it, and it switches over to the cortex I mentioned above. This was one of those moments. We always say time is precious, but to get it out of its shell, you need to know how it works.

See you in another piece..

Bilgin Kılıç, Athens, March 2026.

In case you’re interested, here’s a broadcast from OSD that I really liked…