Understanding: The Most Powerful Generative Intelligence

"The Astronomer" by Johannes Vermeer (1668) - Depicts a scholar carefully observing a celestial globe. The light illuminating the scene could be interpreted as the inner illumination that emerges from genuine understanding, capturing that moment when we transition from simply knowing facts to truly comprehending a phenomenon.

In this era of rapid advances in artificial intelligence models that bombard us every week, I would like to reflect on a capability that, in my opinion, differentiates human beings: our capacity to understand. If we get carried away by recent publicity, human activity is almost doomed to become obsolete in its entirety. It is appropriate, then, to reposition our role in this new scenario.

The Memorization Trap

Throughout my experience in academia, I have observed a recurring pattern: many students prioritize memorization over deep comprehension. It's a natural and understandable tendency - memorizing seems like the quickest path to immediate academic success. Why spend hours truly understanding a concept when you can memorize the key points for the exam?

However, this strategy has an enormous long-term cost. I've known too many people who, after years of university study, barely retain scattered fragments of knowledge. Nevertheless, what's truly concerning is not the loss of specific data, but the absence of a comprehensive and deep vision of their field of study. What a waste of time!

Understanding as an Active and Transformative Process

Understanding something goes far beyond following a tutorial or passively listening to an explanation. It is a dynamic, personal, and non-transferable process that requires reflection, analysis, and synthesis. It is an exercise that demands effort from both the teacher and the learner.

In the short term, seeking deep understanding may seem like a heavy burden. It's slower, more demanding, and sometimes frustrating. But the benefits in the medium and long term are extraordinary:

• Learning becomes more fluid and natural

• We develop a superior capacity to solve new and complex problems

• We build meaningful connections between different areas of knowledge

• We gain adaptability in unforeseen situations

A Key Asset of the 21st Century

We live in an increasingly complex, competitive, and interconnected world, where the challenges we face and that add the most value to society are not "standard problems" that can be solved with memorized formulas. We need to develop a deep understanding that allows us to navigate this growing complexity.

Understanding is, in essence, our superpower for taming the infinite complexity of the universe. It is what allows us to adapt, innovate, and find creative solutions to problems never seen before.

What About AI?

Current generative artificial intelligence, although impressive, operates mainly through probabilistic processes that connect inputs and outputs in abstract representation spaces. It doesn't "understand" in the deep and transformative sense that characterizes human understanding.

This doesn't diminish its usefulness as a tool, but it does remind us of the importance of cultivating and valuing our unique capacity for deep understanding. In an increasingly automated world, deepening our understanding will be more valuable than ever

Conclusion

The path of understanding may be longer and more challenging, but it is infinitely more rewarding than simple memorization. In a world of increasing complexity, developing this "natural generative intelligence" is no longer just an advantage - it is increasingly becoming a necessity.

What do you think about this? Have you experienced the difference between memorizing and truly understanding something? I would love to hear your reflections in the comments.