Thoughts on thinking

I don't think LLMs replace thinking, but rather elevate it. When I use an LLM, I’m still doing the intellectual work, but I’m freed from the mechanics of writing. It’s similar to programming in C instead of assembly: I’m operating at a higher level of abstraction, focusing more on what I want to say than how to say it.

The writing is the work, though. The words on paper (or wherever) are the end product, but they are not the point. See chapter 5 of Ahrens, Sönke. 2017. How to take smart notes: one simple technique to boost writing, learning and thinking - for students, academics and nonfiction book writers., for advice on how writing the ideas in your own words is the primary task and improves not only writing, but all intellectual skills, including reading and thinking. C. Wright Mills in his 1952 essay, "“On Intellectual Craftsmanship" says much the same thing. Stating the ideas in your own words is thinking.

If you do not know how to say something, you don't know how to say it.

When I microwave a frozen meal for dinner, I'm still a chef, but I'm freed from the mechanics of preparing and assembling ingredients to form a dish.

You can also use a microwave to bloom spices, or thaw frozen veggies from your home garden, or steam things, or thicken sauces, …

The microwave is a tool with certain useful aspects and certain limitations. It is also a tool which can lead to faster outcomes of things you need to do if the tool didn’t exist. At what point should a chef draw the line in the tools they use? Should I forgo microwaves? What about pressure cookers? Ovens? Surely knives are fair game? Maybe I should knap flint and butcher meat with it and cook over an open campfire — then truly no one can claim I am not a chef.