Thinking Through Tools: AI, Cognition, and Human Adaptation
I see intelligence not as an absolute measure of “smarter” or “dumber,” but as something fundamentally shaped by the tools and environments we operate within. Consider a carpenter and a caveman: each has developed cognitive architectures optimized for their respective toolsets. The carpenter excels with saws, levels, and electrical tools, while the caveman masters rocks, fire, and natural materials. Neither is inherently more intelligent—their minds have simply organized around different problem-solving contexts. This tool-dependent view of intelligence becomes crucial when examining AI adoption. People using AI may lose proficiency at certain tasks when performed without assistance—just as the carpenter might struggle to build shelter using only natural materials. But this is not cognitive decline; it’s cognitive reallocation. The brain shifts resources from one set of skills to optimize for new challenges and opportunities. When someone transitions from traditional cognitive work to ...