The Strategic Brain
by Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board member Natasha Vita-More.Overview
Each one of us has been entrusted with the care and nourishment of what might be the most extraordinary and complex creation in the universe. Home to your mind and personality, the brain is the archives or our most cherished memories and our hopes for the future. It arranges and coordinates the elements of consciousness that gives us purpose, passion, motion and emotion.
In order to prepare for the future of our brain, we need to know what it likes, the challenges it craves, the rest it requires, and the protection it deserves.
But the brain is too fragile — too vulnerable to continue in its current state. The brain needs to adapt to the future trends. The brain needs a strategy for its future.
The most important question to ask at the onset of a strategic planning process is “Why are you taking action now?” The most obvious answer is that NOW something has occurred which has changed the day-to-day operations of the enterprise. An event or series of events have occurred in the marketplace affecting the external and internal environments of the enterprise and how it will perform its operations has changed irrevocably. Now is the time to take action in order to establish a new vision, a set of goals, and the actions to implement them.
A strategy for the brain will take into account how the brain is currently challenged by the (1) demand to produce better cognitive capabilities; (2) a demand for more of its free time and energy; (3) expectations to perform operations for an expected extension of years far beyond what it has known in the past; (4) an increasing rate of neurological degeneration as a result of an increased lifespan; and (2) the need to keep up with the acceleration of competitive new super intelligences.
Developing a strategy for the brain is a balance of several elements — a compelling vision for its future, what strategic goals it sets in realizing its vision, how it puts its strategy into action, and the results of achieving or not achieving its goals. The brain needs to decide what it wants to be in the next decades, what it wants to accomplish in the next decades, and why — its mission.
Its mission will reflect its core ideology — its values. Many a brain has not been able to keep up with the pace of the future, run into psychological slumps, lost time and energy wasting away on the past rather than the future. NOW is the time to look ahead and to develop a strategic plan that balances all the elements necessary to realize a visionary yet realistic future. The future that will allow the brain to be the best that it can be.
But before we can develop a strategic plan for the brain, we would have to know a more about its services, its customers’ needs, and if it is meeting those needs.
A Brain’s Executive Statement
The Brain develops best practices for cognitive and creative processes. The enterprise’s main office is located in the neocortex, and has connections through the internal and external network of society. The Brain’s quality services are unique and exclusive, and its target consumers are nerve cells and synapses and with upper-end job-related responsibilities. The brain’s competitive edge is that its services are 100% man-made, unlike competitor’s products.By this fact, the enterprise hopes to attract investors that value the artistry of producing neurological connections and their emergent properties such as critical thinking, imagination, day-dreaming, problem-solving, humor and importantly intellection. Since the Brain’s services are mostly to serve the day to day functions of the mind as well as elaborate networking and communications assistance, it considers itself to be in the communications market, although some consumers purchase the end-result products, such as ideas, for themselves.
For the starting year 2006, the enterprise plans to develop strategic initiatives to protect its future and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Over the past few decades, the Brain’s longevity has increased along with its competitors, causing a reevaluation of its position and its future.
The Brain’s future is uncertain due to advancing cogitative systems such as AI, and Superintelligence. Adding to the external environment of The Brain is the fact that new enterprises entering the marketplace are drawing business from The Brain. Brain Virus and other invasive viral infections are eating away at the resources of The Brain’s affiliates. This pending shortage has created an immense demand for increased memory.
Earlier this century, Memory Management, located in the Cortex conference room, became aware of different groups of neurons beginning to break down causing a leakage in perception. Subsequently a reconstruction temp crew worked around the clock to develop parallel processing to improve the relationship. This type of weak management is showing up more and more. Medulla department experiences too much overtime and depleting the snack bar, cerebellum has been complaining about too much lifting and carrying and we are concerned about worker’s compensation, thalamus has been spending more time on the phone and surfing the net than being an effective executive assistant, and hypothalamus may very well get us a sexual harassment lawsuit and an excess of unexpected neuron firings.
Regardless of some on the internal flaws of the enterprise, there is great potential for continued success.
The enterprise plans to expand to direct mind-linkup ubiquitous computing networks, error-correction memory replay, global Net connection with remote neural access guarded by security protocol and embedded high-throughput contradiction detectors. During 2007, The Brain plans to work collaboratively with super computers, virtual systems, and Uploads, Inc. The Brain family of cells will expand in 2008 by adding 10 different kinds of augmentations and add-on arrangements.
Bigger Vision
In order to understand its future, The Brain needs to ask itself who it wants to be in the next decades, what it wants to accomplish, and why. It needs a bigger vision:
- Working to be better, smarter, and more capable.
- Evolving faster than the speed of technology.
- The human brain, unlike fabricated substitutes, provides impeccable intelligence, flawless memory, great wit, endless understanding and compassion.
The brain’s mission must fulfill its vision. But before we move ahead with an action plan, we have to first as three questions: Where is it today, where does it want to be in the future; and what should it focus on today to make its future possible?
TODAY: The brain is vulnerable. It is vulnerable to physical and mental diseases, and accidental damage. But it is primarily vulnerable because it is not backed-up — not just on a daily basis, but on a continuous basis to preserve every thought.The current era covers a series of biotechnological events: neurosurgery, neuroinformatics, neuromarketing, brain technology for transferring mind data to the inactive limbs. Most immediately the current era is creating an expected increase in machine intelligence, overcoming human intelligence.
Questions
1.What difference did that event make in the external environment?| Previous Era (Before Event) | Current Era (Now) |
| a. Changes to the brain were considered science fiction and bioconservatives said superintelligence would never come about. | Well known corporations are currently working on next-generation supercomputing. It has been stated by experts that supercomputing power will outperform the human brain. This is a very big threat to the future of the brain. |
2. What trends will affect this enterprise in the next 5–10 years?
a. Increase in biotechnologies for extending human lifespan will have to take a hard look at the cognitive capabilities of people living well past 100.
b. Increase in legislation governing application of technology for augmenting the brain may increase in lawsuits concerning outcomes of such augmentations.
3. What potential future events would radically change the future for this enterprise?
a. Successfully isolating genes that trigger brain cell degeneration and depression.
b. Developing the means to restore and enhance memory.
c. Demand for better brains by people living longer.
d. People opting for a synthetic brain over a biological brain over a human brain.
4. What issue is being debated in the environment that could change the future for this enterprise?
a. The moral consequences of tampering with the human condition, affecting what it means to be intelligent.
Assessment
As a result, then, what opportunities exist in the environment for this enterprise?a. Develop a marketing campaign to booster the need for better cognitive abilities for humans and an outreach to help people understand the benefits of a highly functioning brain for those who want to live to be 100+.
b. Strengthen its network with nanorobots and engage virtual environments.
As a result, what threats exist in the environment for this enterprise?
c. Unknown and unforeseeable virus causing communicating breakdown which could sorely affecting the brain’s ability to keep up with the changes ahead.
d. Unknown and unforeseeable virus causing supercomputing power to come to a halt.
e. New enterprise gaining momentum and competing aggressively, such as superintelligences.
f. Strong emotional reaction to change — becoming more than human intelligence.
Strategic Issues
Finally, based on the opportunities and threats listed above, what three external strategic issues should the plan address. Among these three is probably at least one opportunity and one threat.
a. How the brain is going to keep up with the advent of accelerated technologies and the fact that people are living longer, therefore needing better brains?
b. How to strategically address competitive forces that will affect the ability for the brain to continue the lead in the marketplace. Since new organizations coming into the domain compete aggressively, the chances of implementing and actualizing strategic goals is diminished. Alternative for the organization might be to develop a new enterprise out of the organization by selecting what works and eliminating what does not work and regrouping under a new name and take ownership of a new mission.
is to serve its cells
by adopting the advantages
of emerging technologies to ensure a
smart, safe and sustainable environment.
Strategic Plan
Achieving the three goals necessary for longevity: “an optimally functioning brain in a sound mind; favorable social support systems; financial security.”Strategic Priority A: Health and Longevity
Eat well, get sleep, avoid stress, keep the cognitive processes active, and avoid negative thoughts.
Strategic Priority B: Competitive Edge in the Marketplace
Strategic Priority 1.0 — Develop Organizational Stability by working with mind to adapt to change.
Strategic Priority 2.0 — Continually scan the environment for positive and negative affects of emerging technologies.
Strategic Priority 3.0 — Enhance Memory and back up brain/mind continuously.
Strategic Priority 4.0 — Create a ubiquitous, open, fluid environment for intellection.
Strategic Priority 5.0 — Collaborate with emerging superintelligences.
