56 | New Scientist | 9 November 2019
The back pages Q&A
We should embrace our mistakes, says
neuroscientist and author Henning Beck.
Without them, we would never achieve
anything worthwhileAs a child, what did you want
to do when you grew up?
I wrote a science “book” about the human
body when I was 8 years old. I think
I always wanted to explain things.In your latest book, you say that
making mistakes is good. Why?
Consider the alternative: if we never made any
mistakes and followed the rules perfectly, we
would never visit anywhere new. Breaking rules
and making mistakes push the boundary of
human knowledge.How did you end up in neuroscience?
The brain is the last and greatest mystery in
science. No other thing has been studied so
deeply and is so poorly understood. When you
look at a brain from the outside, you just see a wet
mass full of densely packed nerve cells. How can
this be the origin of game-changing ideas, great
symphonies, language, love and art? We have no
idea. Is there a greater enigma on Earth?How has your field of study changed in
the time you have been working in it?
When I started, neuroscience was dominated by
biochemistry and molecular biology. But it turns
out that biology alone cannot explain how the
brain works. We need support from mathematics
and information science to understand how the
brain actually creates thoughts and organises
information. We know that there are mathematical
principles and rules that guide its processing,
but we have no clue what they are.What’s the best piece of advice
anyone ever gave you?
When I was 17, my teacher said: “It’s the mistakes
we make that distinguish us from unimaginative
computers.” Since then, I’ve remembered that
learning from failures is more important than
avoiding them. Done is better than perfect.If you could have a conversation with any
scientist, living or dead, who would it be?
Probably Richard Feynman, about encouraging
people to think scientifically. In our times, it is
more necessary than ever to think critically
and challenge our opinions.If you could send a message back to
yourself as a kid, what would you say?
Dude, the most valuable thing you have is
your brain. Wear a helmet!What scientific development do you hope
to see in your lifetime?
The first aircraft tried to mimic a bird’s wings.
Of course, that didn’t work out. Artificial
intelligence is in the same position. Copying
the brain is a dead end: we need to find the
principles that make it work and replicate them.What’s the best thing you’ve read or seen
in the past 12 months?
I recently played with my 2-year-old neighbour,
who learned the name of a particular spider at
first sight. That’s when I realised that human
thinking is fundamentally different to any
kind of computer.Do you have an unexpected hobby,
and if so, please will you tell us about it?
I throw boomerangs because I love the idea that
the things you throw away will eventually come
back to help you – if you do it cleverly.How useful will your skills be after
the apocalypse?
When something bad happens, people always
look for somebody to explain how or why,
so that they can understand it and ensure it
doesn’t happen again. Of course, explaining that
before it happens would be the better approach.OK, one last thing: tell us something
that will blow our minds...
In a thousand years, no one will remember
anything about life today because our electronic
storage devices are non-durable. We’re a lost
generation. People will look back to the
present - day dark ages and wonder
what we fools were up to. ❚Henning Beck’s book Scatterbrain: How the mind’s
mistakes make humans creative, innovative, and
successful is out now (Greystone Books)“The most
important
message I’d
send to my past
self? ‘Dude, your
brain is valuable.
Wear a helmet!’ ”
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