May 3, 2026

Every day, we wake up with the ability to think new thoughts. Examples of topics and such that we can think up - a monkey eating breakfast politely beside us at the table. - a creative new business idea that aids a niche select few. - lyrics to a heartfelt country song about mountain goats and beer. - a way to articulate our affection, with grandeur, to someone we love. - an opinion/a take/ a stance on pretty much anything. example opinion (not claiming) "chairs would be more fashionable if they had five legs instead of four" I have come on here today to remind myself and all of you that thinking thoughts like these are incredibly valuable. Though it may sound trite, thinking critically and creatively is essential to humanity. Thinking helps us to engage, understand, and progress ourselves/the world/each other. Thinking builds empathy, and resilience. Thinking and producing an output of said thoughts (writing, speaking, art) assembles a voice, which establishes a sense of self. Thinking thoughts help us to generate meaning. Although we have the ability think critically and creatively about the world, each other, and ourselves, I have reasonable doubt that we are losing the spirit of this. As we all know, artificial intelligence (FULL NAME) is rapidly changing the workplace, educational institutions, and how we consume knowledge. We (gen pop) understand it is here to stay, but the implications of what this means have not been fully fledged out. To me, it is already it is clear there are two ways to use AI. Way one the Skeleton (the smart way) A tool to help you, the human, complete a task more efficiently. Very "think smarter, not harder." Way two the Brain (the easy way) A tool that completely does the task for you, the human. As we all know from almost every story ever, there is a great appeal to taking the easy way out. It does thinking when we don't want to do the work. But, guys, what have we ever learned about the easy way out? My worry is that if humans become reliant on Brain AI for critical and creative thinking, we are going to forget all about the monkey eating breakfast politely beside us at the table. Amongst other things. "If you don't use it, you lose it." Alls this to say, our minds are a place of glorious discovery, and I believe that it is more important to be reminded of that now than ever before.