[jrk]

Simon Willison nailed exactly this 2 years ago:

> I've been thinking about generative AI tools as "bicycles for the mind" (to borrow an old Steve Jobs line), but I think "electric bicycles for the mind" might be more appropriate.

> They can accelerate your natural abilities, you have to learn how to use them, they can give you a significant boost that some people might feel is a bit of a cheat, and they're also quite dangerous if you're not careful with them!

https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/13/ebikes/

[onefreecomputer]

https://packet.boutique/technohumanism/codex/index.html

Technology is part of humanity. Just as a hammer extends the hand, so too does the LLM extend the mind.

[croes]

Or it is the car for the mind. It extends your range but you become fat and lazy by driving everywhere.

[chii]

> you become fat and lazy by driving everywhere.

but you do manage to drive everywhere - a feat that wasn't possible previously (except perhapes for the select few who trained).

[croes]

But as soon the car breaks down you're going nowhere.

That's a big dependency, reminds me of the people in Wall-E.

[chii]

Yes, it's a new dependency. But it's not the biggest one of the modern life.

And the criteria shouldn't be just the cost of the dependency, but the benefits too! I'd say every dependency we have in the modern life is worth it - otherwise people wouldn't have chosen to have it. Like electricity, mechanised farming, etc.

[croes]

People aren't so rational.

We often chose short term benfits over long term negative effects.

For instance eating too much sugar, too little sleep, destroying our own habitate by burning fossil fuels etc.

AI needs lots of money and resources ans the use case is more than once for useless stuff.

[matthewsinclair]

Gosh. That’s bang on. And very prescient for 2 years ago.