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I enjoyed the ending of your ending. It is not only the fact that we are getting mentally lazy by having on demand access to all of human knowledge and opinion, but it is also that it takes the magic out of certain social interactions. For example, having a discussion with a friend over coffee, where both of you might be trying to remember the details of a specific topic. Previously, you might have spent 10-15 minutes digging into the topic, exercising each other's memory until you both arrived at the 'aha' moment where suddenly you remember the key detail/fact that you both were looking for. Anecdotally, when that happened, it was a deeply rewarding moment (dopamine hit, but you had to work for it!). With all of this knowledge at our fingertips, those moments are gone. I wonder if the lack of that mental 'sparring' and the ensuing reward that it brings is causing us to miss out on a key social/mental feedback loop that could not only allow you to exercise your mind, but also to get you used to moments of frustration and disagreement with another person (which is a useful skill to develop when you are contending with someone on a topic in which the answer is unknown). Anyway, more relevant to the parent comment, we have faced this challenge before in the physical domain (i.e. our ability to move ourselves vs transportation technology). We have bikes, cars, trains, and planes (and now cybertrucks!), yet we still recognize the necessity for physical exercise (although Ozempic and other weight loss drugs may change this dynamic). Ultimately, with the introduction of technology that makes our lives easier (at least initially), the natural capabilities that we've developed over billions of years to serve those functions become vestigial if not used. |