Our minds, as brilliant and powerful as they are, are only really built to handle one or a handful of crazy things per year. With the rise in technology ever accelerating, such advancements have burdened us with a constant dopamine tap.

I simultaneously see the great benefits and the terrifying potential. First off, there is a real possibility that we will suddenly have too much, too fast. Our minds are already struggling to slow down in the moment. We are not making memories in the same sense anymore, because the dopamine drip has conditioned us to keep grabbing the next cool thing, casting the last like yesterday’s news, and forgetting it by Thursday as we continue down this pipeline.

Second, AI is too smart for us, and it is too dumb to understand why. You can type in a prompt into ChatGPT about the degradation of the United States education program, and it will eloquently explain why. It might even mention the introduction of technology in the system. But you can ask it to make an essay about it and it will not tell you to pick up a pen and pencil, tell you how important it is, and tell you how to do it yourself. It’ll just make the essay you asked.

I love technology, and I love nature. I am torn between both worlds – what is possible and what is already here. No one has to be wrong in these discussions – technology CAN make our lives better. Nevertheless, we need to be careful, lest we risk losing something more fundamental – our humanity – to the next big thing.