The brain has a really simple job description: keep everything the same as it is now. This is called homeostasis: maintenance of the status quo.
Doing that isn’t so simple though: everything keeps on changing. And most of those changes are irrelevant. So, here’s the highest priority decision the brain must make:
Does this new thing require a response?
This is then where the stupidity kicks in. Twice. First, the stupid brain is just deciding OK or NotOK? We know that the world is not black and white like this. Second, the brain then insists on doing something if the answer if NotOK.
The stupid brain has no idea that procrastination can be one of life’s greatest pleasures.
Actually, we aren’t being quite fair. Keeping things unchanged requires anticipation. It’s better to know beforehand that something is about to change rather than finding out afterwards. The brain is a massively sophisticated anticipation machine. If something is predictable, the brain will get it.
Music gives us so much pleasure because it is nearly predictable. It sets the brain up to expect something and then at the last moment does something else. The brain always falls for this. It’s nearly cruel…
The best source of safe predictions turns out to be the past. So the brain has a big store of the past that it can refer to continually. Last time it rained this heavily, I got wet: therefore predict getting wet. Better take steps to avoid.
There are a couple of design issues here. First, the only predictions that the brain responds to (seems to notice) are negative ones. Why can’t it let us enjoy a predicted great grade profile this semester? Second, its predictions are based only on what has happened before. The stupid brain can’t imagine a new, different future.
And that’s where the smart mind comes in.