New essay warns AI could erode our thinking habits; critics invoke the Industrial Revolution's body costs
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-09-20
Ruxandra Teslo published a new essay arguing humanity may entrust ever more of its thinking to machines and gradually lose the habits and institutions that once cultivated our minds — a surrender that could unfold amid prosperity, each step celebrated as progress.
Quoting it, arjunrajlab drew an analogy to the Industrial Revolution: it freed bodies from backbreaking work but left them flabby. He's "less convinced that intellectual flabbiness is the necessary outcome," suggesting societies can design culture to emphasize cognitive fitness, much as some handled physical fitness post-industrialization better than others.
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