“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
— Winston Churchill
The Algorithm as a Crutch
Picture a math class in a modern school. A student, Maya, looks at a problem with panic on her face. She needs to solve a word problem about speed and distance. Instead of trying to solve it herself, she immediately opens an AI assistant on her tablet.
“Maya, why didn’t you try to solve it yourself?” the teacher asks.
“I need the right answer,” the girl replies. “Why waste time if I can get it right the first time?”
This isn’t about laziness. Maya is a top student, an Olympian, a highly motivated child. But she literally cannot tolerate a state of uncertainty when she doesn’t know the right answer in advance.
Her cognitive strategy is simple and destructive: avoid any situation where an error is possible. It’s better not to try than to try and fail.
Similar scenes are unfolding in schools all over the world today. This dependence on algorithms from a young age is explored in “The Third Parent.” Modern AI systems have created a generation of children who have never learned to make mistakes productively. They only know two states: “correct” and “unacceptable.”
Between these two states lies an entire universe of learning—a territory of mistakes that algorithms have declared a “no-go zone.” This cognitive offloading is a symptom of a broader issue, the Google Effect, which is eroding our ability to remember.
How the Brain Learns from Failure
To understand why mistakes are critical for brain development, we need to look at its architecture. When we make a mistake, a complex cascade of processes is launched in the brain—a true “symphony of learning.”
The Anterior Cingulate Cortex: The Error Processing Center
The main conductor of this symphony is the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain region that detects conflicts and discrepancies. This area reacts instantly—just 50 milliseconds after an error. It heightens attention, activates memory, and initiates adaptation processes.
Studies show a paradoxical effect: after a mistake, there is increased activity in the areas of attention and information encoding. Mistakes make the brain remember the correct answers better. Regular experience in overcoming mistakes builds resilience to failure.
A Practical Example: The Bicycle and Life
Imagine a child learning to ride a bicycle. Every fall is a mistake that provides the brain with critical information:
- How the body behaves when it loses balance
- Which muscles to engage for correction
- How speed affects stability
If there were a “perfect” algorithm that prevented all falls, the child would never truly learn to ride a bike. He would be dependent on external support.
The same thing is happening to cognitive skills in the age of AI. It can deprive children of the right to make mistakes—a fundamental learning mechanism honed by millions of years of evolution.
The Science of Mistakes: Three Revolutionary Discoveries
1. Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset: Mindset Determines Outcome
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has spent decades studying how attitudes toward mistakes affect learning. Her research has identified a fundamental difference between two types of mindsets:
Fixed Mindset: The belief that abilities are fixed. Children with this mindset avoid challenges, fear mistakes, and give up at the first sign of difficulty.
Growth Mindset: The understanding that abilities can be developed. Such children perceive mistakes as information, not as a threat.
Children who are constantly corrected by AI and shielded from mistakes are more likely to develop a fixed mindset. This environment, where AI confidently presents information, can discourage critical thinking—a skill essential for navigating AI hallucinations. Studies show that the risk of a fixed mindset in such children is significantly higher than in their peers who learn by trial and error.
2. Robert Bjork’s Desirable Difficulties: Difficulties Are Desirable
UCLA psychologist Robert Bjork introduced the concept of “desirable difficulties”—learning tasks that create short-term difficulties but improve long-term learning.
The key principle: learning conditions that seem effective in the short term (easy tasks, immediate help) often harm long-term retention. And conditions that slow down visible progress optimize true learning.
Examples of desirable difficulties:
- Spaced repetition instead of cramming
- Testing instead of rereading
- Mixed practice instead of blocked learning
- Delayed feedback instead of immediate hints
3. Manu Kapur’s Productive Failure: Learning Through Failure
Researcher Manu Kapur of ETH Zurich showed in his 2014 study that students who first tried to solve a problem without hints and made mistakes then demonstrated significantly better conceptual understanding and ability to transfer knowledge to new problems compared to those who were first taught the correct method.
Experiments show the advantage of the “productive failure” approach in mathematics: children who go through trial and error perform better on non-standard problems.
The Brain’s Antifragility: Taleb’s Concept in Action
Nassim Taleb introduced the concept of “antifragility”—the ability of a system not just to survive under stress, but to benefit from uncertainty and change.
The brain is a classic example of an antifragile system. Just as physical training strengthens muscles through stress, cognitive “stress” (mistakes) strengthens neural networks.
The key principle: systems that avoid stress and mistakes weaken. Systems that encounter manageable difficulties become stronger.
Building a Cognitive “Callus”
The regular experience of making and overcoming mistakes forms a “cognitive callus”—a protective layer of mental resilience. Children with a developed cognitive “callus”:
- Perceive mistakes as information, not a threat
- Are able to keep trying after failures
- Demonstrate greater creativity in solving non-standard problems
Cultural Differences: How Different Countries Handle Mistakes
The East Asian Approach
The Japanese cultural concept of “kaizen”—continuous improvement through a conscious attitude toward mistakes—has spread throughout the world. Japanese schools practice collective reflection on mistakes.
The result: students from these countries show high results in international tests thanks to a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth.
The Scandinavian Model
Finland, Denmark, and Sweden have incorporated the principle of the “right to make mistakes” into their education systems. Grades are not given until the age of 13-14, with the focus on experimentation and exploration.
The result: Scandinavian countries consistently rank in the top 5 for education quality with minimal use of standardized tests.
How This Can Work in Practice
Imagine a family that has adopted a “right to make mistakes policy” at home. Each week, family members share the most interesting mistakes of the week:
- The 8-year-old son talks about how he tried to build a robot without instructions and created “something that looks like a spider”
- The 12-year-old daughter shares how she made a mistake in her English essay, but it helped her understand the difference between tenses
- Parents also participate, showing that mistakes are a normal part of life
Such practices, based on the research of Dweck and Bjork, help children develop a willingness to take on complex tasks and form a healthy attitude toward failure.
Practical Takeaways for Parents
The story of Maya, which began this article, is not a sentence, but a diagnosis. We can change the trajectory. Understanding the neurobiology of mistakes, the principles of antifragility, and cultural differences gives us the tools to raise a generation that is not afraid of uncertainty.
Key Principles:
- Mistakes are data, not failures
Reframe mistakes as sources of information about what works and what doesn’t. - Difficulty develops, ease weakens
Don’t rush to help at the first sign of difficulty. Give the child time to struggle with the problem. - Process is more important than outcome
Praise effort and strategies, not innate abilities or correct answers. - Uncertainty is a natural state of learning
Create situations where there is no single right answer. - Antifragility can be trained
Regularly offer tasks that are slightly above the current level of competence.
Changing the Language Around Mistakes
Instead of: “You made a mistake.”
Say: “You found a way that doesn’t work.”
Instead of: “That’s wrong.”
Say: “It’s interesting what would happen if you tried it differently.”
Instead of: “Don’t make mistakes.”
Say: “Make interesting mistakes.”
From Perfection to Antifragility
In a world where algorithms are always right, children forget that it’s okay to be wrong. Moreover, it is necessary for brain development.
Remember: the children who learn to overcome mistakes today will be making decisions in a world full of uncertainty tomorrow. How they learn to make mistakes will determine how they live.
The pursuit of perfection is a trap that parents, teachers, and children themselves fall into. True perfection in education is not the absence of mistakes, but the ability to make the most of them.
Sources:
Taleb, N. N. (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2011). Making Things Hard on Yourself, But in a Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning
Kapur, M. (2014). Productive failure in learning math. Cognitive Science, 38(5), 1008-1022
