The Mechanized Mind: AI’s Hidden Impact on Human Thought

Conn McQuinn

Jul 4

First, if we don't have sufficient in-brain skill and knowledge, we won't know what to ask the AI to do or how to interpret the products it creates. Second, if we turn over our thinking to AI, we are doing ourselves harm. I don't mean that in the metaphorical sense. Our brains are like muscles, and the harder they are used, the st... See more

The first step is to understand the fundamental difference between humans and AIs. We are analog, chemical beings, with emotions and feelings. Compared with machines, we think slowly—and we act too fast, failing to consider the long-term consequences of our behavior (which AI can help predict). So we should not compete with AI; we should use it. At... See more

focus less on AI as something separate from humans, and more on tools that enhance human cognition rather than replacing it… If we want a future that is both superintelligent and "human", one where human beings are not just pets, but actually retain meaningful agency over the world, then it feels like something like this is the most natural option.

On another, we might peer into the machine itself. After all, as it stands today, one of AI’s greatest strengths is in highlighting its own weaknesses (and thereby, illuminating those qualities that we’re uniquely suited to as living, breathing thinkers and makers). We might consider our imagination a strength, or our capacity for recursive thought... See more