Thoughts on thinking

I think the article describes a real problem in that AI discourages thought. So do other things, but what's new about AI is that it removes an incentive to try.

It used to be that if you spent your day doomscrolling instead of writing a blog post, that blog post wouldn't get written and you wouldn't get the riches and fame. But now, you can use AI to write your blog post / email / book. If you don't have an intrinsic motivation to work your brain, it's a lot easier to wing it with AI tools.

At the same time... gosh. I can't help but assume that the author is just depressed and that it has little to do with AI. The post basically says that AI made his life meaningless. But you don't have to use AI tools if they're harming you. And more broadly, life has no meaning beyond what we make of it... unless your life goal is to crank out text faster than an LLM, there's still plenty of stuff to focus on. If you genuinely think you can't possibly write anything new and interesting, then dunno, pick a workshop craft?

Humans are social creatures. The existence of a tool that can replace humans is not nearly so depressing as the realization that a loud and powerful group of people are zealous and joyful to use it to such ends. The assumption that people come first is rapidly becoming a logical fallacy in a world that seeks to optimize paperclips first.

Anyway, the pendulum will swing the other way eventually, but it's a rough ride hanging on until then.

Glad to see stimulating discussion here falling on both sides.

For me it decreases the barrier to try and test new thoughts, never have I felt more empowered to try out new avenues that in the past might have been too time consuming or expensive to dispose of.