In the past, knowledge was a difficult project that required effort and patience. We used to read, analyse, make mistakes and correct, doubt and then confirm. Today, everything has changed.
It is enough to type a question on a search engine, or in an artificial intelligence application, to get a ready-made answer, sometimes more accurate and faster than you expect. It is an attractive comfort of knowledge, but behind its lines it hides a serious question: Are we still thinking, or have we begun to delegate our minds to the machine?!
Artificial intelligence is no longer limited to technical laboratories, but has become a daily element in human life. From writing research and reports, to drafting letters and speeches, to making administrative decisions. This dense and convenient presence of technology may deceive us into thinking that we are directing it, when in fact it is the one that began to direct us.
The real danger is not that machines will become smarter than humans, but that humans will stop using their intelligence. When we become accustomed to receiving ready-made answers, and we accept the saying, “The machine knows best,” we gradually lose one of our most valuable faculties, and here I mean the ability to think critically, the thinking that produces the idea, questions it, and reformulates it again.
The question has changed from: “What do I think?” To: “What is the algorithm saying?”. This transformation, despite its apparent simplicity, carries with it a threat to human cognitive independence.
It is true that artificial intelligence has opened up undeniable horizons. It has accelerated the pace of research, facilitated access to information, and even created amazing artistic and literary content. But, like any great force, it needs a corresponding awareness that directs it, not a submissive mind that follows it without questioning.
The problem is not with technology, but with our attachment to it to the point of addiction, and our laxity in using our minds. Just as the body weakens from lack of movement, the mind withers when it is satisfied with consuming without producing. The most dangerous thing is when we become mere “users” of ideas that we do not know how they were born, nor why we should accept them.
Yes, we need a generation that is good at using technology, but without allowing it to confiscate its mental independence. A generation that dares to say: “Let me think first,” before being carried away by suggested results or pre-prepared content.
What we fear is not the intelligence of the machine, but the stupidity of relying solely on it.
