Video summary
TheBrain 15 marks a significant milestone for the software after nearly three decades of development, primarily driven by its complete rewrite which has resolved long-standing platform compatibility issues. For thirty years, users faced challenges in maintaining consistency across different operating systems, but the latest version now runs seamlessly on Windows, Mac, Linux, and other platforms without requiring extra effort from the user. This technical overhaul has dramatically accelerated the team's ability to deliver new features and updates, transforming the development process into a more agile environment where innovations can be rolled out quickly. The shift represents a fundamental improvement in the software's architecture, allowing for a smoother experience that finally matches the ambitious vision of its creator, Harlon, who originally designed the tool to mimic the associative nature of human thought.
A major highlight of this new release is the integration of Cerebro, an advanced generative AI feature that allows users to build and populate their mind maps with minimal effort. Unlike previous versions where creating a complex network of ideas required manual entry or extensive learning, TheBrain 15 enables users to simply ask the AI to construct a brain on specific topics, such as alternative energy versus fossil fuels, and it will automatically generate relevant nodes, articles, and theories. This AI is specifically trained to understand how to curate a mind map effectively, ensuring that new entries are distinct and valuable rather than creating duplicates of existing data. By leveraging models like GPT and potentially others in the future, the software bridges the gap between raw information retrieval and structured knowledge management, making it incredibly easy for anyone to start building a personalized web of ideas without needing tutorials or coaching.
Beyond its technological advancements, TheBrain 15 introduces a revolutionary pricing strategy that encourages experimentation and widespread adoption by making the desktop application completely free to use. The company has shifted its focus from restrictive licensing to a model where users can create unlimited public brains for free, synchronize up to a thousand thoughts across devices, and access limited AI capabilities without any cost. This approach is particularly beneficial for power users who maintain large databases, such as the speaker's brain containing over 645,000 thoughts, as it allows them to share specific nodes with others via simple links while still offering paid tiers for those who need private synchronization or expanded storage. The free tier serves as a powerful entry point, allowing users to experience the full potential of the software and its AI features before deciding whether to upgrade, effectively removing financial barriers that have historically limited the tool's growth.
In conclusion, TheBrain 15 represents a massive leap forward that addresses the historical hurdles of adoption and usability that have plagued the software for thirty years. By combining a robust cross-platform foundation with intelligent AI assistance and a generous free pricing model, the developers have created an environment where users can naturally express their thoughts without feeling constrained by technical limitations or steep learning curves. Although the marketing materials may not immediately scream "revolution," the underlying changes in how the software is built, how ideas are generated, and how it is priced make this version a truly transformative update. For anyone who has ever struggled to organize their knowledge or wants to explore a new way of thinking, TheBrain 15 offers a compelling opportunity to rediscover a tool that aligns closely with the natural flow of human cognition.
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Hi, I'm I'm Jerry Mcowsky. I'm an OG
user of The Brain. Arguably, I'm one of
the first people outside of the company
who ever used the product because they
let me use it a month before they
shipped to everybody back in 1998.
Um,
I've been using the Brain all these
years, almost three decades now. And
they just released fully the Brain 15,
their latest version. And I've been
using the Brain 15 for a while. They've
been working out the bugs. They just
kind of made a big deal out of it and
put some marketing out for it. And if
you've been watching The Brain's
marketing, it looks like the rest of
their marketing. It's really hard to
tell that anything different or special
has happened. So I want to just as a fan
and as probably their lead user and as
the curator of the world's largest
openly published handmade mind map that
we know about. Um I just want to tell
you three reasons why this is a really
big deal and you might want to go back
and try the brain again or try it now if
you've never heard of it before. Um I'm
showing you here my brain and I've got
three reasons why the brain is a big
deal. Uh here are the three. First, um,
they've rewritten the brain software
kind of three times in this 30-year
history of the brain. Um, this one is
great. They suddenly don't have to work
real hard to have Unity across their
platforms because this works on Windows,
Mac, Linux, etc. Uh, they are turning
new features very, very quickly. So,
there are new revs coming out. It's a
whole new world in terms of just the
team's ability to deliver on things they
want to get done.
Second thing is um the brain 15 embeds
brains smart generative AI in the app.
They now have a thing called cerebro
this thing. There we go. Um the brain 15
embeds uh really smart AI in the app.
This little AI icon, this chip over
here, you press on that and all of a
sudden Cerebro is there. And as you can
see, they've tied it to G to Chat GPT
models so far. I'm hoping they'll also
go over to Anthropics Claude. uh but at
this point you can sort of pick your
model and it tells you what kind of
effort that means for uh the model but
this AI is actually trained its harness
knows how to curate a brain this is a
huge deal this is a really great idea
and they've executed it really well so
you can tell this brain hey I would like
to build out a brain about um
alternative energy versus fossil fuels
who are the players what are the issues
uh what are some of the lead experiments
ments and what are some of the theories
about uh why and when and whether
alternative fuels take over from fossil
fuels. You could just ask the brain to
do that and it will populate your brain
with pointers to appropriate articles
etc etc. The brain's problem for 30
years has been uptake has been people
trying to learn to use it to make some
sense of the world and build out their
brain. I'm weird in that the brain the
moment my wet brain saw Harlon the
inventor demo his the brain um back in
1998 my wet brain was like oh yeah that
that's how I think and I didn't need any
coaching didn't need a tutorial didn't
need the manual I just started using it
and uh that's probably one of the
reasons why I've been so consistent over
time and I've been using it in this way
um if you didn't find that to be true
give it another go because now uh they
they have overcome the hurdle of well
how do I produce a brain? Um I've
coached my AI so that it will check
first to see if there's an entry already
there. One of the examples here is
Nicola Tesla the famous inventor. Um add
his inventions add other things about
Nicola Tesla. I've already got Tesla in
my brain u but now my cerebro will
actually say hey here's a duplicate. we
won't add that, but would you like to
add this and this and this? And we're
off to the races. Then finally, the
brain's new pricing favors
experimentation. So, the brain is
completely free on the desktop. Uh
Harlon has changed the the pricing
dramatically. The company has changed
the pricing dramatically. Here's their
price sheet. Uh and I'm kind of blown
away because what they really want is a
lot of people trying this out. They have
made public brains unlimited. You could
create one or many. I'm I'm strange
among brain users and that I've only got
one brain file really. Maybe there's a
couple other little experiments, but uh
really there's one brain file that I
use, but you can have as long as it's
public and my brain is is mostly public.
Um you can synchronize and share for
free. They do free synchronization for
up to a thousand thoughts in private
brains. Now my brain is 645,000
thoughts. So I would not get free
synchronization, but they want you to
try the sync. The sync lets you uh first
it lets you coordinate between the brain
on your iPad and your desktop and maybe
a second desktop. So that's kind of
cool. I love the sync because I can give
people a link to a particular thought in
my brain that they can go chase down and
when they look at that thought, they're
looking at the servers at the brain. Uh
that's what sync does for me. Then
there's 100 megabytes of synced attached
storage and some limited AI usage. They
want you to try Cerebro. Once you try
Cerebro, you'll want to bump up to one
of their other plans probably, but you
could do an incredible number of things
with just the free app and have to pay
nothing to them at all.
So, give it a try. The Brain 15 is a big
deal. Um, if you pay attention to the
Brains marketing, which is really good,
you can't tell this is a big jump, but
it is. So, um, this is Jerry Mckowski, a
huge fan, lead user, saying, "Give this
a whirl.