People can reduce their risk of age-related dementia by exercising their brains properly instead of Googling, according to a leading Canadian academic. Professor Mohamed I. Elmasry says simple daily habits such as afternoon naps, memory 'workouts' and not reaching for a smartphone can increase the odds of healthy aging.
His new book, iMind: Artificial and Real Intelligence (with foreword by Canadian cell biologist Dr. Aileen Burford-Mason) , says the focus has shifted too far away from RI (natural, or real) intelligence in favor of AI (machine, or artificial) intelligence. Elmasry instead calls us to nurture our human mind which, like smartphones, has 'hardware', 'software' and 'apps' but is many times more powerful – and will last much longer with the right care.
Professor Elmasry, an internationally recognized expert in microchip design and AI, was inspired to write the book after the death of his brother-in-law from Alzheimer's and others very close to him, including his mother, from other forms of dementia. Although he says that smart devices are 'getting smarter all the time', he argues in iMind that none comes close to 'duplicating the capacity, storage, longevity, energy efficiency, or self-healing capabilities of the original human brain-mind'. He writes that: "The useful life expectancy for current smartphones is around 10 years, while a healthy brain-mind inside a healthy human body can live for 100 years or longer.
"Your brain-mind is the highest-value asset you .