Blog Dis
Don't be afraid to think for yourself
2025-10-14
It has begun, fully, completely, without restraint, the roll-out and official launch of AI assistants, deployed like an army of automatons. Now, and whenever I click on 'new email', whether in my personal account or vis-a-vis my work email account, there's an immediate AI pop-up that offers to write my email for me.
And to these offerings, I quietly decline by shaking my head back and forth, while muttering to myself that human ingenuity won't be happy until it turns every human being into a hapless numbskull, incapable of thinking for themselves, unable to string two words together, or unwilling to flip through the pages of a dictionary, much less an online dictionary.
Is AI going to replace individuals from actively turning pages in a real book with real paper? Maybe. But not this kitty-kat. I still prefer the feel of paper to screens and e-Readers. Yes, I read online all the time, at work, in the evenings. Yet, there is nothing quite like the feel of a weighty book in your hands, to turn paper pages, or using a bookmark to ensure your place isn't lost.
In some corporations, it's impossible to disable the AI feature when it comes to composing emails, and I've noticed while at home writing in one application, that when I write I'm being followed by the AI pencil which continues to ask me, "Shall I re-write your sentence?" For f*ck's sake! No! Don't re-write my sentence. Don't ask me. Don't distract me. And this leads me to think that AI will beat down every human not by surpassing our imaginations but by continuously hovering over us, hounding us, second-guessing our decisions and our choices, at least where writing is concerned, to the point that some persons will give in and let AI do all their writing for them. One author in Ottawa, whose name I shall not repeat, was curious. She fed her four novels into ChatGPT and asked it to write the fifth in her series. Once the novels had been uploaded in PDF form, and her command was entered, she sat back and waited. Two hours later, the fifth novel emerged, having been entirely written by AI. Her post went something like this, "I asked ChatGPT to write my fifth novel and you have nothing to worry about - the novel that AI produced is pure garbage. AI tried to write in my style but missed my cadence entirely. The story made no sense."
My sentiments exactly. On the Copyright page of my seventh novel, I asked my design editor to add a single sentence: No portion of this book was written by Artificial Intelligence, not one Gotdamn word!
AI is designed to be superior, not to behave as an original human with a distinctive brain, the way each human is uniquely wired. So, this is how it will go down. The company where you work will push out these AI tools to improve your efficiency, in order that you can work harder on the more important tasks, as deemed by them, while your free-thinking brain begins to lag from disuse, and from having everything served up to you on a silver platter. No more will you have to worry about digesting lengthy emails because AI will summarize them for you, and you'll get to the point where you can't even be bothered to form your own opinions, by reading through long emails, because you'll just work on the basis of assuming AI is right, which it isn't... all. the. time.
A conversation this week with a colleague whose primary focus is business development, had utilized AI to summarize a program that is used to enhance the experience of business development, only for this colleague to realize that AI had gotten it all wrong. He went back to re-do the summary, using his own brain, not the AI tool, despite the artificial tool having access to a database and faster processing skills. This result had surprised him, and now he is filled with distrust, and rightly so.
There's also the other component of the human brain that few in the AI industry want to highlight, and it pertains to the alarmingly high rates of dementia and Alzheimer's that are recorded in developed countries. These brain diseases are complex, and cannot easily be pinpointed to one specific cause but rather a host of causes that propel the brain's functioning to decline, slowly at first, and eventually to the point of synapses not occurring at all. There are also a host of methods to slow the brain's decline, despite medical industries understanding that cognitive decline is a fact of life, once you reach the mid-60s. For some, their decline begins much earlier, and this is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow.
Further, the medical industry is quick to acknowledge that there are habits we can adopt to keep our mind sharp and these include: Reading! Read books that are out of your comfort zone. Read books that challenge your vocabulary. I'm constantly spell-checking words when I read. Challenge your brain with mathematics, puzzles. Eat the right foods, which is to say adopt a balanced and nutritious diet, one that includes green leafy vegetables, on a daily basis. As well, lead an active life that includes regular exercise. Learn a new language or memorize a long piece of text, like a difficult poem. Beet root, apparently, is highly effective in supporting your brain. Eliminate processed foods, where possible, and avoid products that contain aluminum, such as underarm deodorant. One man, upon learning that his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, saw a reversal in her condition, which thankfully had been caught early, and this was the result of introducing into her diet high doses of Omega-3 fish oils, along with drastically modifying her daily nutrition, to include taking a B-Complex supplement to support the brain.
I, too, have noticed how B Complex has helped my elderly parent to think more clearly.
I mentioned reading, which requires the use of your eyes and brain, rather than a passive activity, like listening to an audible book, where you're not actively engaging your brain, or rather required to make an effort. I argued with one reader who contends that audible books are no different than reading books, to which I countered, "Oh OK. How often do you read when you're driving?" There's nothing wrong with audible books, and I've yet to light that fire under my caboose to create an audible book for my seventh novel, which will surely challenge my brain. Though, I admit audible books haven't captured my imagination and this is no doubt due to the fact that I don't make long drives, as some do when they commute to and from work. I get how listening to a book is a wonderful way to spend time in your vehicle, but don't allow this luxury to replace reading.
Allow me to point out that I'm well into my latest non-fiction book, Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend by Patrick Symmes, a journalist who follows Che's odyssey on bike. I'm happy to report that he doesn't pull any punches with regard to portraying Che, not as the eulogized saint, which he was anything but. Recently too, I made mention of a 780-book that I recently picked up from the laundry room of an apartment building, written by Christopher Hitchens, a British and American author and journalist. Rather than wait, I started into his introduction the other night, and I knew from reading this alone that his essays will challenge me. Good! I cheated, though. I read through the index of essays, and ended up flipping to 'Why Women Are Not as Funny as Men' and at first the title got my dander up, only to realize that scholars can be especially witty, not only serious, and his essay made me laugh. [I got your point, Mr. Hitchens!]
I also have the Chamber's Dictionary of World History at the ready, which allows me to snack on tidbits every day, an alphabetical compendium of the world's entire history. Three very different books will mean three very different experiences and three very different ways to stimulate my brain. This is what reading does for you, if you choose your material properly, rather than some AI tool summarizing a book in one neat paragraph or two. An AI summary is not the same thing, not by a long-shot.
Yes, I know what you're thinking. AI is here to stay. I also know that what we've experienced to-date with AI is just the beginning. So why not begin to actively use your brain? If anything, you'll be able to handle the freakishly fast changes AI will drop at the doorstep of every living and thinking human brain.
And if anything else, you've just spent the time to read this post, and to get to the end of it. I thank you.
And to these offerings, I quietly decline by shaking my head back and forth, while muttering to myself that human ingenuity won't be happy until it turns every human being into a hapless numbskull, incapable of thinking for themselves, unable to string two words together, or unwilling to flip through the pages of a dictionary, much less an online dictionary.
Is AI going to replace individuals from actively turning pages in a real book with real paper? Maybe. But not this kitty-kat. I still prefer the feel of paper to screens and e-Readers. Yes, I read online all the time, at work, in the evenings. Yet, there is nothing quite like the feel of a weighty book in your hands, to turn paper pages, or using a bookmark to ensure your place isn't lost.
In some corporations, it's impossible to disable the AI feature when it comes to composing emails, and I've noticed while at home writing in one application, that when I write I'm being followed by the AI pencil which continues to ask me, "Shall I re-write your sentence?" For f*ck's sake! No! Don't re-write my sentence. Don't ask me. Don't distract me. And this leads me to think that AI will beat down every human not by surpassing our imaginations but by continuously hovering over us, hounding us, second-guessing our decisions and our choices, at least where writing is concerned, to the point that some persons will give in and let AI do all their writing for them. One author in Ottawa, whose name I shall not repeat, was curious. She fed her four novels into ChatGPT and asked it to write the fifth in her series. Once the novels had been uploaded in PDF form, and her command was entered, she sat back and waited. Two hours later, the fifth novel emerged, having been entirely written by AI. Her post went something like this, "I asked ChatGPT to write my fifth novel and you have nothing to worry about - the novel that AI produced is pure garbage. AI tried to write in my style but missed my cadence entirely. The story made no sense."
My sentiments exactly. On the Copyright page of my seventh novel, I asked my design editor to add a single sentence: No portion of this book was written by Artificial Intelligence, not one Gotdamn word!
AI is designed to be superior, not to behave as an original human with a distinctive brain, the way each human is uniquely wired. So, this is how it will go down. The company where you work will push out these AI tools to improve your efficiency, in order that you can work harder on the more important tasks, as deemed by them, while your free-thinking brain begins to lag from disuse, and from having everything served up to you on a silver platter. No more will you have to worry about digesting lengthy emails because AI will summarize them for you, and you'll get to the point where you can't even be bothered to form your own opinions, by reading through long emails, because you'll just work on the basis of assuming AI is right, which it isn't... all. the. time.
A conversation this week with a colleague whose primary focus is business development, had utilized AI to summarize a program that is used to enhance the experience of business development, only for this colleague to realize that AI had gotten it all wrong. He went back to re-do the summary, using his own brain, not the AI tool, despite the artificial tool having access to a database and faster processing skills. This result had surprised him, and now he is filled with distrust, and rightly so.
There's also the other component of the human brain that few in the AI industry want to highlight, and it pertains to the alarmingly high rates of dementia and Alzheimer's that are recorded in developed countries. These brain diseases are complex, and cannot easily be pinpointed to one specific cause but rather a host of causes that propel the brain's functioning to decline, slowly at first, and eventually to the point of synapses not occurring at all. There are also a host of methods to slow the brain's decline, despite medical industries understanding that cognitive decline is a fact of life, once you reach the mid-60s. For some, their decline begins much earlier, and this is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow.
Further, the medical industry is quick to acknowledge that there are habits we can adopt to keep our mind sharp and these include: Reading! Read books that are out of your comfort zone. Read books that challenge your vocabulary. I'm constantly spell-checking words when I read. Challenge your brain with mathematics, puzzles. Eat the right foods, which is to say adopt a balanced and nutritious diet, one that includes green leafy vegetables, on a daily basis. As well, lead an active life that includes regular exercise. Learn a new language or memorize a long piece of text, like a difficult poem. Beet root, apparently, is highly effective in supporting your brain. Eliminate processed foods, where possible, and avoid products that contain aluminum, such as underarm deodorant. One man, upon learning that his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, saw a reversal in her condition, which thankfully had been caught early, and this was the result of introducing into her diet high doses of Omega-3 fish oils, along with drastically modifying her daily nutrition, to include taking a B-Complex supplement to support the brain.
I, too, have noticed how B Complex has helped my elderly parent to think more clearly.
I mentioned reading, which requires the use of your eyes and brain, rather than a passive activity, like listening to an audible book, where you're not actively engaging your brain, or rather required to make an effort. I argued with one reader who contends that audible books are no different than reading books, to which I countered, "Oh OK. How often do you read when you're driving?" There's nothing wrong with audible books, and I've yet to light that fire under my caboose to create an audible book for my seventh novel, which will surely challenge my brain. Though, I admit audible books haven't captured my imagination and this is no doubt due to the fact that I don't make long drives, as some do when they commute to and from work. I get how listening to a book is a wonderful way to spend time in your vehicle, but don't allow this luxury to replace reading.
Allow me to point out that I'm well into my latest non-fiction book, Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend by Patrick Symmes, a journalist who follows Che's odyssey on bike. I'm happy to report that he doesn't pull any punches with regard to portraying Che, not as the eulogized saint, which he was anything but. Recently too, I made mention of a 780-book that I recently picked up from the laundry room of an apartment building, written by Christopher Hitchens, a British and American author and journalist. Rather than wait, I started into his introduction the other night, and I knew from reading this alone that his essays will challenge me. Good! I cheated, though. I read through the index of essays, and ended up flipping to 'Why Women Are Not as Funny as Men' and at first the title got my dander up, only to realize that scholars can be especially witty, not only serious, and his essay made me laugh. [I got your point, Mr. Hitchens!]
I also have the Chamber's Dictionary of World History at the ready, which allows me to snack on tidbits every day, an alphabetical compendium of the world's entire history. Three very different books will mean three very different experiences and three very different ways to stimulate my brain. This is what reading does for you, if you choose your material properly, rather than some AI tool summarizing a book in one neat paragraph or two. An AI summary is not the same thing, not by a long-shot.
Yes, I know what you're thinking. AI is here to stay. I also know that what we've experienced to-date with AI is just the beginning. So why not begin to actively use your brain? If anything, you'll be able to handle the freakishly fast changes AI will drop at the doorstep of every living and thinking human brain.
And if anything else, you've just spent the time to read this post, and to get to the end of it. I thank you.
