"We have always moved toward whatever makes consciousness easier to carry. I'll suggest that this instinct predates algorithms and screens and perhaps even writing itself. It's not a modern weakness or a failure of will. It may be the most consistent thing about us."
"So, I've started thinking about this as a sort of existential ergonomics. It's basically the idea that technology, increasingly optimized, isn't merely there to reduce physical or cognitive effort, but to reduce the strain of being a self. Yes, it's a rather pedantic expression, but these two words are important because they reframe the question."
"We've spent a good deal of energy debating whether AI is safe or accurate. Those are real questions, but sharing a border with these is something older and less examined. My question is whether AI is appealing precisely because it responds to a desire that has nothing to do with productivity and everything to do with the relief of the self."
"Being fully human is exhausting in ways we often don't say out loud. Thinking takes effort. Doubt takes effort. Decisions take effort. Just being you takes effort. Day after day, we negotiate hundreds of small acts of interpretation and cognitive management. We carry all of it-work, family, fear, ambition, across a life that also includes the knowledge that our life will end."
Consciousness and being fully human require continual cognitive effort, including thinking, doubt, decisions, and ongoing interpretation. Life involves managing work, family, fear, ambition, and awareness of mortality, alongside mundane tasks. Technology has long been used to make consciousness easier to carry, and this instinct may predate modern digital systems. AI use can be understood as “existential ergonomics,” where optimization aims not only for accuracy or safety but also for reducing the strain of selfhood. People may seek AI because it offers relief from the burden of being a self, even when they understand the cognitive tradeoffs.
Read at Psychology Today
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