The Power of Not Thinking

Many of the things humans do without “thinking” can’t yet be replicated by artificial intelligence.

Driving a car demands a range of complex skills and situational awareness. No one can teach the routine aspects of starting a car, backing it out and shifting gears from a text or verbal instruction. Learning to drive requires that you experience driving. You can observe an experienced driver from the passenger seat, but eventually you must take the wheel, feel the road, practice changing gears and apply the brakes yourself. To learn to drive, you must engage your body and your brain – your senses as well as your common sense.

You know you’ve mastered driving when you no longer have to think about what you’re doing – when all the tasks of driving become automatic. But if learning how to drive ended there, artificial intelligence (AI) could master it. AI hasn’t done so yet because driving demands the ability to recognize patterns, process them in milliseconds and respond to them almost immediately to avoid a collision. Driving can take place in a wide range of precarious weather conditions and involves other drivers, pedestrians...