> I've been thinking about generative AI tools as "bicycles for the mind" (to borrow an old Steve Jobs line), but I think "electric bicycles for the mind" might be more appropriate.

> They can accelerate your natural abilities, you have to learn how to use them, they can give you a significant boost that some people might feel is a bit of a cheat, and they're also quite dangerous if you're not careful with them!

https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/13/ebikes/

Technology is part of humanity. Just as a hammer extends the hand, so too does the LLM extend the mind.

but you do manage to drive everywhere - a feat that wasn't possible previously (except perhapes for the select few who trained).

That's a big dependency, reminds me of the people in Wall-E.

And the criteria shouldn't be just the cost of the dependency, but the benefits too! I'd say every dependency we have in the modern life is worth it - otherwise people wouldn't have chosen to have it. Like electricity, mechanised farming, etc.

We often chose short term benfits over long term negative effects.

For instance eating too much sugar, too little sleep, destroying our own habitate by burning fossil fuels etc.

AI needs lots of money and resources ans the use case is more than once for useless stuff.

Another analogy:

"A good archer is going to be an amazing sharpshooter and therefore I only want to field archers (with guns) as soldiers", might be a horrible way to run a modern military.

This "the best at the old thing will be the best at the new thing too!" needs to die in a fire.

i would bet that there are currently lots of people who would beat LeBron in theoretical basketball, but don't have the body nor the endurance to compete.

But with a mecha-suit, the advantages of any natural born talent, and any issue with endurance or strength, etc, are diminished, leaving only mental capability as a differentiator.

That's not to say that LeBron's mental capability (in regards to basketball) is low - surely it's high. But the combination of high athletisism and mental capability is a rarity right now. Removing one of these conditions (via the mecha-suit) will then increase the pool of "high" performers imho.

I think a huge part of most sports (especially combat ones) is muscle memory. You don't have time to think between moves. So if you want to be good you'll still have to work for days and make your body learn.

And if you think muscle memory is bullshit, try to remember how driving was hard at first and nowadays you can almost sleep through your commute.

It's a super rare archetype of athleticism/size+mental that only the likes of LeBron, Jokic and Magic Johnson have occupied (not meant to be an exhaustive list).

What if LLMs are cars for the mind not bicycles?

Both I and Usain Bolt get a Prius. Who is faster at the shopping mall? What will happen to our fitness? Who will be the next Usain Bolt and would we even care?

Except everyone doesn't have AI. Only huge corporations with billion dollar data centers do. What happens when Sam Altman decides to de-prioritize you? The little toy model you downloaded from github won't cut it.

These AI tools shift a lot of power into a few Silicon Valley companies. Keep those skills sharp, you'll need them. Best case scenario, the VC money bonfire runs out of fuel before 3 companies own the entire software industry.