“What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” Haruki Murakami

Mantra for marathon runners: pain is inevitable – unavoidable reality; suffering is optional - up to the runner himself.

The author is writer by profession. And as he has been into running for a long time, he has written down his thoughts about running. Quite a different approach to running compared to Christopher McDougall. 

Running long distances, one has a lot of time to think and ponder a thousand thoughts. Or at least this is the case for me. So it was interesting to read what another co-runner is thinking. So I captured some thoughts that caught my attention. 

To keep on going you need to keep up the rhythm, especially with long-term projects. The author shares that he stops every day right at the point where he feels he can write more and the next day’s work goes smoothly. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The same applies to running – you should run up to the point when you still feel good and want to return to track the next time.

As he first started running he couldn’t run long distances, he simply got tired. But as he continued to run, his body started to accept the fact that he was running and he could gradually increase the distance. This works as long as the main thing is not the speed or distance, but rather simply running every day without taking a break. The author suggests that you never take 2 days off in a row. Muscles are like animals – they want to take it as easy as possible. So when they are not pressured, they cancel out all the hard work you had previously done and you need to repeat the whole journey from the very beginning.

Running is like a lifeline, so don’t quit just because you are busy. If you use busy as an excuse not to run, you’ll never run again. For most there are only a few reasons to run and a truckload of them to quit. Keep the few reasons nicely polished.

I run; therefore I am. 

“What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” Haruki Murakami (2008)

"Losing my virginity. The Authobiography" Richard Branson

Eluloo valdkonna raamatut lugema suundudes olin kindel, et räägin teistele veebruaris Nelson Mandelast, Frida Kahlost, Andre Agassist või näiteks Aleksei Turovskist. Ent meie vestlusse jõudis hoopis inglise ärimees. 

Mitmed tuttavad fännavad Bransoni, mõned tunnevad teda isiklikult. Minul seos Virgin Group'iga puudus. Olin vaid näinud nende lennukeid õhku tõusmas ning aasta eest kuulnud personalijuhtimise konverentsil ettekannet Michael Ollitervo-Murphy'lt, kes oli töötanud Virgin Group'i klienditeeninduse juhina ning rääkis personaliinimestele murrangulistest muutustest (paremuse poole) Briti raudteesüsteemis, kui Virgin sellesse ärisse sisenes. Lisaks oli ettevõtjast sõbranna Bransoni raamatut lugenud ning temast vaimustuses. Tema mulle ka selle raamatu kätte sokutas. 

Seega teadsin piisavalt vähe ning lugemine kujunes põnevaks. Elasin lugedes läbi laia paleti emotsioone - üllatus, ärritus, igavus, põnevus, rõõm, kaastunne. Raamatu lõppu jõudes jäi domineerima positiivne üllatus ja imestus ning tekkis soov Virgin Group'i mõnd teenust kasutada, et isiklik kliendi kogemus saada. Ja tuntud ärimeeste / juhtide seast on Branson nüüd kindlasti üks minu jaoks sümpaatsemaid tegelasi. Et teada saada, mis võiks olla selle põhjused, soovitan raamatuga ise tutvust teha.

"Losing my virginity. The Authobiography" Richard Branson (2007)  

„The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer“ J. K. Liker

Toyota oli 2013. aastal taas kõige suurema müügi teinud autotootja maailmas ja sellega edukuselt autotööstuse esirinnas. Ta on selle positsiooni saavutanud tasa ja targu pidevalt kasvades ja arenedes. Kõige lühemalt öeldes ongi Toyota edu võti õppiv organisatsioon, mis on sellel ettevõttel õnnestunud luua. Toyota Way sisuks on timmitud toimimise ja õppiva organisatsiooni saavutamiseks vajalikud juhtimisalased otsused ja mõtteviis.

J.K. Liker „Toyota Way: 14 Management Principes“ on organisatsooni kultuuri ja mõtteviisi olulisusest rääkiv võiks isegi öelda, et käsiraamat eriti neile juhtidele ja ettevõtjatele, kellele on soov rakendada timmitud toimimise (lean) põhimõtteid. Raamat näitab, et ettevõtte õhkkond, mõtteviis, kultuur ja õppiva organisatsiooni poole pürgimine on sama olulised kui edukus, kasumi teenimine ja kasv.

Kuna ma olen tootmisega seotud insener siis pole timmitud tootmise alused minu jaoks uued. Küll aga üllatasid mind mitmed põhimõtted, mida Toyota kultuur peab oluliseks, rakendab ning õpetab töötajatele, tarnijatele ja partneritele. Osa nendest on väga teistsuguse lähenemisega kui oleme läänes harjunud, kõik komplekselt aga paistab väga hästi kokku sobivat ning toimivat. Mitmete põhimõtete puhul on selge, et need saavadki toimida vaid koostöös, üks aspekt ilma teiseta ei ole rakendatav. Sellel vihjab ka raamatu autor ja timmitud tootmise uurija ning koolitaja J. K. Liker, et suurim viga, mida läänes tehakse, on lean-süsteemi rakendamine poolikuna mitte arvestades selle põhimõtete vastastikkust koosmõju. Osalise rakendamisega aga timmitud efekti ei teki, kuna leani-põhimõtted võivad minna üldlevinutega vastuollu.

Tahan sellest tootmise juhtumise teemaliselt raamatust välja tuua mõned mõtted, mis olid ootamatud ja uudsed, aga mis lähemal süvenemisel omavad tegelikult sügavat tähendust ning mis kannavad endas Toyota juhtimiskultuuri sisu.

How you arrive at the decision is just as important as the quality of the decision.

Igal tasandil tehakse mingeid otsuseid. Toyota õpetab inimestele (keskastme juhid, insenerid,  liidrid jms) kuidas otsuseid teha. Toyota kultuuris on tähtis, et otsus oleks tehtud paljusid alternatiive kaaludes ja et oleks kaasatud vajalikud inimesed, kes on asjaga kuidagi seotud ja et nad saaksid anda oma panuse, pakkuda alternatiivi jms. Selle protsessi eesmärk on ühelt poolt konsensuse saavutamine ja teiselt poolt muudatuste vastu seismise vähendamine, sest Toyota kogemus näitab et kui  enne otsuse tegemist on huvipooltega arutatud siis on otsuse juurutamisele vastutöötamine palju väiksem. Selline otsustamise mudel on Toyotasse niivõrd sisse kasvanud, et otsuseid ei hinnata mitte ainult selle põhjal, mis tulemusi see annab/andis, vaid selle põhjal kas otsuse tegemise viis oli õige. Kui õige otsus on saavutatud vale lähenemist kasutades siis selle eest on noomitus kirjas. Mittesoovitud tulemusega otsust ei kritiseerita kui see on saavutatud soovitatud otsustamise viisi jälgides. Seetõttu ei propageerita ka kiirelt otsuste tegemist. Make descisions slowly, implement rapidly. Kui otsus on tehtud, siis peab selle elluviimine ja juurutamine toimuma koheselt, nii kiirelt kui võimalik. Toyota ütleb et kiire rakendamine ongi võimalik kuna eelnevalt on konsensus saavutatud ja kõik osapooled on saanud oma panuse anda.

Go to see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.

 Pole võimalik mõista olukorda ekraanilt tulemusi silmitsedes või statistikat vaadates. Selleks, et teada kas ettevõte liigub selles suunas nagu plaanitud, tuleb olla ise tegevuse keskel, tunnetada seda õhkkonda mis valitseb, avatud meelega vaadeldes näha, mis tegelikult toimub ja analüüsida nähtut. Tables and number measure results but they do not reveale the details of the actual process being followed every day. Ma arvan, et seda on kogenud paljud, et üks asi on see kuidas on mõeldud, et konkreetne töö või protsess peab töötama, hoopis teine asi on aga see, kuidas töö tegelikult tehtud saab. Niikaua kuni operatsioone ei teostata etteantud standardi järgi, ei saa rääkida stabiilsest, kuluefektiivsest ja tulemustele orienteeritud protsessist. Reaalse olukorra tuvastamiseks pole aga muud vahendit kui visuaalne vaatlus, mille tulemusi ei saa petta ega varjata. Iseasi kas on julgust tõele näkku vaadata. ka Liker nendib raamatus, et lääne juhtimises pööratakse liialt palju tähelepanu igasuguse statistika kogumisele ja selle analüüsile, samas kui statistika annab väga piiratud ülevaate ja sedagi ainult nende asjade kohta, mille kohta on tahetud ja suudetud andmeid koguda.

On the floor management.

Juhtide huvi selle vastu, mis toimub tootmises või konkreetsemal töökohal, ei ole Toyota kultuuris usaldamatuse ilming. Selle taga on vajadus ja soov arendada oma töötajaid. Kui kõrgema tasandi juht käib vaatamas ja olukorraga tutvumas, siis see on eeskuju tema all töötavatele juhtidele, tootmise probleemilahendus meeskondade liidrid jms gruppide eestvedajad peavad nägema ja tunnetama, et ühelgi tasandil ei saa lahendada probleeme ja küsimusi ilma olukorda ise nägemata, mis annab signaali selle kohta kuidas nemad peavad käituma. See on töötajate arendamise küsimus.

Standardization and innovation are two sides of the same coin.

Tavaliselt oleme harjunud mõtlema, et standardiseeritud protseduur on midagi, mis on range ja tapab inimeste loovuse, kuna on ette määratud, kuidas on vaja teha. Töömeetodite, protseduuride standardiseerimine tagab, et protsessis ei jää midagi tegemata ja et parimad teadaolevad lahendused olukordadega toime tulekuks on igal pool teada ja kasutusel. Toyota Way järgi on töötajad julgustatud pakkuma paremaid lahendusi kui tegevusjuhis ette näeb ja igasugused lahendused on oodatud. Eelkõige tekivad uued mõtted reaalse probleemi lahendamise käigus kui otsitakse viise, kuidas mittesoovitavat tulemust edaspidi vältida. Kui selline lahendus on leitud, siis pole standardid kivist ja tööjuhiseid muudetakse vastavalt töötajate ettepanekutele. Innovatsioon ongi mingi asja tegemine teisiti, uut moodi ja seda töötajate innovatsiooni meeleldi juhenditesse ka kirjutatakse. Kokkuvõttes töötaja lähtub küll kokkulepitud standardist aga seda on võimalik muuta ja sobivuse korral muudatust ka kogu ettevõtte analoogsete tööetappidele laiendada.  Eks vana tõde ole seegi, et mida sügavamalt mingist asjast tead, seda rohkem oskad pakkuda sellega seoses ka reaalseid parenduskohti . Oma tööd hästi tundev kogemusega inimene, kes on omandanud probleemilahenduse oskused, ongi pideva parendamise saavutamiseks olulise tähtsusega. Toyota ütlebki, et töötajad on nende kõige suurem vara, sest inimene on ainus, kes on võimeline mõtlema, analüüsima, probleeme lahendama, uusi meetodeid pakkuma ja neid standardiseerima. The Toyota Way means more dependence on people, not less.

Root cause analyse instead of problem source identification.

Ma tahaks loota, et kuskil ettevõtetes ei keskenduta enam süüdlase otsimisele ja näpuga viibutamisele arvates, et see lahendab olukorra ning on hoiatavaks eeskujuks teistele. Süüdistuste asemel tuleb leida vea/probleemse olukorra juurpõhjused. Toyota Way järgi pole isegi kõige olulisem keskenduda probleemi allikale kuivõrd mehhanismile, mis olukorra tingis.

Process orientated vs results orientated management

Toyota õpetab oma organisatsiooni iga astme juhtidele keskendumist töö teostamise täiuslikkusele. Läänes peamiselt juhitakse tulemustele orienteeritult. Viimase puhul pole vahet, kuidas tulemus saavutati, kui see on piisavalt hea. Teostamise täiuslikkuse puhul on oluline ka see, mis vahendite ja meetoditega tulemus saavutatakse. Eetilisuse, moraalsuse, turvalisus jms väärtuste jalge alla tallamine tuhmistavad tulemuse. Samuti on erinevus selles, mida juhid mõõdavad. Toyota Way process oriented juhtimise korral kasutakse vähem mõõdikuid, mis on kergesti arusaadavad ja tõesti olulised – praagi osakaalu, toodetud ühikuid jms meilegi mõistetavat. Samas osa mõõdikuid on sellised, mille eesmärk on näha, kas töö teostatakse kehtivate protseduuride järgi, näiteks liini seiskamise kordade arv. Mõõdikutele eesmärkide seadmise osas analüüsitakse, mis tulemust tegelikult saavutada soovitakse. Näiteks pole oluline vähendada liini seiskamise kordade arvu, mis tooks kaasa probleemide peitmise – probleemid jääksid aga liini lihtsalt enam ei seisata kuna see muutub ebasoovitavaks – selle asemel pigem tegeleda probleemide lahendamise kiiruse, professionaalsuse või meeskonna reageerimise suurendamisega. Toyotas on aktsepteeritav, et mõõta võib ühte, aga juhtimistasandil tegeleda mitte tingimata otseselt selle mõõdiku mõjutamisega. Sellise juhtimise aluseks on usk ning kannatlikkus, et kui tehakse õigeid asju, siis need viivad pikaajalises plaanis õigete tulemusteni.

J.K.Liker "The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World`s Greatest Manufacturer"

"Great by Choice" Jim Collins, Morten T. Hansen

Collins and Hansen explain in their book "Great by Choice" how did 10 companies (or 10xers) thrive in dramatically changing environment and how did their leaders succeed. For an answer they used historical analysis, looking at a timeframe of 15+ years, from 1965(-80) to 2002 eg Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and comparative analysis with 10 respective companies, that did not survive.

Myth 1: successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold, risk-seeking visionaries.

Contrary finding: the best leaders do not have the ability to predict future. They observed what worked and found out why it worked, and built upon proven foundations. The successful leaders were more disciplined, empirical and paranoid.

* Fanatic Discipline - Extreme consistency of actions, values, goals, performance standards and methods. Relentless in their focus on their quest. True discipline requires mental independence, ability to remain consistent in the face of intrinsic and social pressures.

* Empirical Creativity - When faced with uncertainty 10xers did not look to other people, believe in conventional wisdom, authority figures or peers for direction, they look primarily at empirical evidence - direct observation, practical experimentation, and direct engagement with tangible evidence. They simultaneously made bold moves and bound their risk. “Fire bullets” to experiment what works, and then based on evidence “fire cannonballs”.

* Productive Paranoia - Highly tuned to threats and changes in the environment even when all is going well. Fear is channeled into extensive preparation ahead of time all the time and effective action. 10xers took less risk and always had cash reserves. “Zoom out” to understand the environment, and if necessary change plans and “zoom in”, to execute objectives.

* Level 5 Ambition - Lead with powerful mixture of personal humility plus professional will. Leaders who deflect attention from themselves, maintain low profile, led with inspired standards, rather than inspiring personality. They define themselves with impact, contribution and purpose. 

Also, they adopt the SMaC (Specific, Methodical and Consistent) recipe. The more uncertain your environment is the more SMaC you need to be. It is a list of things we do, clear, concrete, success formula, enabling enterprise to focus on doing the right thing. Any given element of 10xers recipe lasted on average for more than two decades. For example, a part of the SMaC list of the Howard Putnam, the CEO of Southwest Airlines: utilize 737 as our primary aircraft for 10-12 years, passenger is our 1 product, stay out of food services, keep fun atmosphere aloft, retain Texas as our 1 priority and only go to interstate if high - intensity short - haul markets are available to us etc.

Myth 2: You are either quick or dead.  

Contrary finding: 10xers figure out when to go fast, and when not to.10xers did the “20 Mile March” - requires hitting specified performance markers with great consistency over long period of time. 10xers has sustainable pace, in bad times deliver high performance and in good times hold themselves back.

Myth 3: Innovation distinguishes 10X companies in fast moving, uncertain, and chaotic world.

Contrary finding: 10xers did innovate lot, but not more than their less successful comparisons. The innovation is not a trump card itself, more important is the ability to scale innovation.

Myth 4: Radical change on the outside requires radical change on the inside.

Contrary finding: 10x cases changed less in reaction to their changing world than the comparison cases.  

Myth 5: Great enterprises with 10x success have a lot more good luck.  

Contrary finding: The 10x companies did not have more luck - bad and good - than others. It’s not about “Are you lucky?”, but “Do you get a high return on luck?”. One of the most important type of luck is the “Who Luck” - the luck of finding the right mentor, teammate, leader, and friend. The best way to find a strong current of luck is to swim with great people, and to build great relationships with people for whom you’d risk your life and who would do the same for you. 

To summarise: 10x companies were not more lucky, or had more resources etc, leaders were not more educated (some did well at school some not) nor did come from better family background (had various backgrounds), did have a wide range of different personalities (some were charismatic some were not) compared to the unsuccessful companies. For success the authors urge to act in a data driven and disciplined way. Collins and Hansen: "We cannot predict the future. But we can create it." I wonder is the "education does not matter" part still true, as in our technology bubble era many of the leaders have excellent educational backgrounds? 

I enjoyed the examples and the illustrative names used for the concepts eg fire bullets, then cannonballs. The book is a great example how to explain the research results in a simple and justified way.

Jim Collins, Morten T. Hansen "Great by Choice" (2011)

“Super Brain – Unleash the Explosive Power of Your Mind” Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi

Our brain is constantly evolving. The heart and liver that we were born with will essentially be the same organs when we die. But the brain is capable of evolving and improving through our lifetime.

Upward learning curve is possible

A wide-spread opinion is that as we age, our brain ages too and it will be harder to learn new things, memory loses its edge, etc. However, that does not have to be so. As we get older, we tend to simplify our mental activities, often as a defense mechanism. We feel secure about what we already know and want to avoid learning new things. So instead of the brain creating new synapses, it keeps hardwiring the ones we already have. However, if we choose to follow an upward learning curve no matter how old we are and keep on learning, hence creating new synapses, dendrites, and neural pathways; we enhance health of our brain and this way minimizing the risk of dementia and even Alzheimer.

New neurons are born when we are not on autopilot

Indeed – brain is losing every day around 85 000 cortical neurons (1 per second). Which is 0,0002% of the 40 billion neurons that one has in cerebral cortex. Meaning it would take 600 years to lose half of them. But this is tough, as new neurons are also born regularly (neurogenesis). All one needs to do is to keep training one’s body and mind.

Instinctive, emotional and intellectual brain

Although we often despise the instinctive brain, it has its function – who would want to choose / decide consciously about digesting food after each meal? Huge areas of life should be on autopilot and they luckily are. When chased by tiger, our instinctive brain does something crucial – decides by itself to release adrenaline. It evokes electrochemical activity as specific synapses, telling one to run while optimizing heart rate and breathing for maximum physical performance and maximizes one’s concentration to endure the chase. Desires such as eating, sleeping, drinking and having sex disappear, until the danger is gone.

Emotional brain is something different. Emotions mean something and we want to control this “department” rather than be on an autopilot which is easy to happen. A key towards successful communication is overcoming our negative emotions (e.g. anger). How to do this? Try to notice and “observe” the emotion. In that tiny momentum when you think “this is me getting angry”, hence separating yourself from the feeling (creating gap between yourself and your emotion), the emotion loses momentum. So do not let emotions use you, make them your partner, e.g. in learning, as emotions intensify learning thus you remember better what you studied and learn more! Young children learn effortlessly as they are naturally enthusiastic and passionate about learning.

Higher or intellectual brain marks the arrival of self-awareness. Higher brain, the cerebral cortex, sits like a king atop of the lower brain. This part of the brain is where the question of the meaning of life was born. It also takes care of thinking, decision-making etc. The intellectual brain uses logic and rational thought to deal with the world in a mindful manner. So while instinctive brain makes us react, intellectual brain provides us with option to mindfully respond. Responding to any situation requires understanding while reacting doesn’t.

Another special feature of the higher brain is that it enables us to teach – turn our experience into knowledge and share it with others. And human society depends on teaching. Even though monkeys might be similar to us, the big difference between humans and monkeys is that the latter cannot teach other monkeys, even if they can learn very complicated tasks.

While higher brain enables us to learn and develop which is crucial for survival, it can also decide not to survive. Because humans have higher brain that is capable of thinking, we refuse to be dictated by our lower brain (which promotes survival as the most important goal), even when it comes to survival unlike any other animal. Nietzsche phrased it “Man is the only animal who has to be encouraged to live”.

Consciousness

One more interesting topic the book touched upon was consciousness. Apart from the very unreliable picture running inside the brain, we have no proof that reality is anything like what we see. Einstein put it in another way saying that the most incredible thing isn’t the existence of the universe but our awareness of its existence. Are trees really green and hard? Is the sky blue? We have agreed that they are but e.g. for termites the trees are not hard and the sky might not be blue for the creatures flying there. So, the physical world we experience only mirrors our human nervous system.

To sum up

·         Old age and dementia do not have to go hand in hand – we can choose to work out our brain and learn until the end.

·         One is not one’s brain (“My arm moved” vs “I moved my arm” – one is reaction, one is intention; one is brain driven, one mind driven).

·         One creates everything about how the world looks and feels. Perception isn’t passive. One is not simply receiving fixed reality. One shapes it. Self-awareness changes perception. The more aware one is, the more power one has over reality.

·         Mind, brain, and body are seamlessly connected. Being afraid of something bring along physical symptoms – muscle weakness, loss of appetite etc.

I liked the book. I have hard time accepting “enlightenment” / good advice from self-help books or magazine articles that are not backed up by hard facts, research, studies. Although most of the advice the book gives is no news to me, I trust it more as there are references to science and studies. 

So did I change something in my behavior after reading this book? A bit. I have tried to train my brain and live more consciously on a small scale, tried not to fall into comfortable routines and not to look for excuses in order to skip learning e.g. new phone or computer applications including this blog site with the excuse that I am too old to follow all this and don’t really need it. And maybe they aren’t vital, but for the sake of training my brain to avoid dementia in old age, it might be worth to give them a try! 

Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi "Super Brain – Unleash the Explosive Power of Your Mind” (2012)

“How to create a mind” Ray Kurtzweil

 „We are capable of hierarchical thinking, of understanding a structure composed of diverse elements arranged in a pattern, representing that arrangement with a symbol, and then using that symbol as an element in a yet more elaborate configuration. We are able to call these pattern ideas. We call this vast array of recursively linked ideas knowledge.“ R. Kurtzweil 

The quote from Kurtzweil's books does not seem too simple. Kurtzweil, however is on a quest to simplify the description of how the brain works. He calls this the “most important effort in the history of the human-machine civilization“. His aim is to translate the neuroscience into programming of an artificial brain.

When reading the book I was mainly looking for information about how the brain works:
- Neocortex (the "new brain") consists of “lego blocks” that recognize patterns. There are lower level patterns that make sense of the simple things, and higher level patterns that represent abstract concepts. Information is interlinked. Parts of letters are linked to letters, are linked to words, are linked to concepts etc.

- The sound, visual and touch recognition happens in same pattern. Every pattern recogniser is working simultaneously. Thought process “awakes” millions of pattern recognizers, and each pattern would be a list of millions of other patterns and so one until the lowest level of patterns.The thought is not one single pattern, it’s an area of patterns, because we memorise it together with many other information and may use many patterns that are already there. Human brain can learn from its own experience and progamme itself: “You are what you think”.

- Neocortex works in linear way. We are not able to think abstract thoughts before the lower level blocks are there. We have to create connections between knowledge, all knowledge is not connected to all knowledge. Memories are sequential. They can be accessed in the order that they are remembered. Eg you can not start playing a piano piece in a reversed order if you haven't practiced that.

- Information is “read” from the brain with the help of language patterns. We do not record sounds, images, videos. We recreate them. Brain is incoherent, because we can not memorise anything as it is (unless learn by heart). With the help of language patterns we translate our memories into words afterword.

- Parts of neocortex can replace damaged areas. However, certain areas are better prepared for storing specific information and we can learn quicker. There is learning from thousands of humans before us stored in our DNA. This also true with animals eg rat builds a nest even if she has never seen another rat in her lifetime.

- Neocortex (good at solving problems like survival, reproduction, fear and pleasure) interacts with the “old brain” (is seeking gratification and avoiding danger), together coordinating our body and emotional capabilities. Neocortex has a role in emotions as well and can be ran over by the emotions.

- We are largely determined by the chemicals in our brains eg oxytocin and vasopressin (hormones) make us monogamous, maybe to provide possibility of stable environment for our children to develop neocortex. Eg falling in love - dopamine is released producing feelings of happiness; norepinephrine levels soar leading to a racing heart; these chemicals and phenylethylamine produce elation, lead to high energy levels, focused attention, loss of appetite, general craving for the object of desire.

- Consciousness is a result of our brain activity, not a place in our brain. Kurtzweil claims that consciousness is a result of complex system like brain. Patients with no links between the two hemispheres seem to have two different consciousness’s.

- The Web works similarly to brain, however all info can be connected to all info and not forgotten. Computer/web is a complex physical system and therefore can gain consciousness. Human-machine merges are inevitable by 2030, because of our lack of computing power of our brains. And will take place with the help of non-invasive nanotechnology.

- In the field of creating an artificial brain there seems to be more questions than answers: Whether to progamme the brain or make a structure that can learn itself? Teach a brain from the start, by giving feedback or make somebody’s brain scan and use it to develop further? How to overcome the unsolvable problems eg a computer can answer based on the info from the past, but cannot create new answers (Turings theorem).

More illustrations, shorter sentences would have made the reading more pleasurable. Otherwise enjoyed the story about limits and possibilities of our “little grey cells”.

Ray Kurtzweil “How to create a mind” (2012)