Cameron University Speaker Says Human Brains Beat AI at One Key Skill: Possibility Thinking

A packed University Theatre at Cameron University heard a message Thursday night that cut against the usual doom-and-gloom about artificial intelligence. Author and researcher Angus Fletcher told the crowd that AI thinks in probabilities, sorting through patterns from past events, while the human brain thinks in possibilities, imagining things that have never existed. That difference, he said, is where our advantage lives.

Fletcher pointed out that when AI looks at people, it sees patterns. When a human looks at another person, they can spot what makes that individual unique. He encouraged the audience to test that idea in daily life, especially when meeting someone who seems a little outside the norm. His challenge: ask yourself what that person can do that you cannot.

The talk was part of Cameron’s Academic Festival, themed“Being Human in the Age of AI,”with the Duncan-based McCasland Foundation as primary sponsor. For a community anchored by Fort Sill and shaped by constant change, the message landed as both practical and hopeful, a reminder that the skills machines lack are the ones we practice every day with our neighbors and coworkers.

What’s one thing you can do that no machine ever could? Tell us in the comments.