mastodon 4.7.2The Computer & Technology Network. Working to make computers and technology accessible to all. I develop guides and other content to achieve my goal. www.ctnet.co.uk
Do you think deliberately about protecting your own ability to think independently?
Writing this series has made me realise I wasn't being very intentional about this. I journal regularly — which helps — but I hadn't connected that practice to the bigger picture of cognitive independence.
What does thinking for yourself look like in your day-to-day life?
Read the post and share your thoughts: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/ai-knowledge-collapse-risk/
One thing five years of Zettelkasten has taught me: productive friction isn't the enemy of learning — it's how learning happens.
Writing notes in my own words, making my own connections — that's where the thinking occurs. It's why I'm careful about where AI fits in my PKM.
Latest post: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/pkm-cognitive-protection-ai/
One of the most useful frameworks I've come across for AI use is the System 1/System 2 thinking distinction.
System 1 is autopilot — the things you already know and do without thinking. That's safe to offload to AI.
System 2 is active learning — slow, deliberate, effortful. That's where you shouldn't let AI replace you.
More thoughts in my latest post: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/protecting-your-mind-from-ai/
#AI #PKM #KnowledgeManagement #Learning #ArtificialIntelligence
I first noticed this paradox last September — I was listening to a podcast about LLMs and something clicked: I was using AI more, but thinking less independently.
That one observation grew into a 5-part series on AI and human cognition. If you've had a similar moment, Post 1 is a good place to start.
https://www.ctnet.co.uk/the-ai-cognitive-ability-paradox/
#AI #PKM #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #Writing
When did you last notice AI doing your thinking for you?
I've been exploring this in a new 5-part series on AI and human cognition. The uncomfortable truth: the more we lean on AI, the less we actually think.
What's your experience? Do you tend to question AI outputs, or accept them more often than you'd like to admit?
#AI #PKM #CriticalThinking #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence
One thing I've added to my quarterly review: a deliberate audit of my AI use.
I ask myself five questions, including: 'Where have I become too reliant on AI?' and 'Am I using AI as a starting point or an endpoint?'
Do you do anything similar to keep your AI use in check? https://www.ctnet.co.uk/protecting-your-mind-from-ai/
#AI #PKM #KnowledgeManagement #Productivity #ArtificialIntelligence
Part 4 of my AI and cognition series, and finally some good news — this time I'm focusing on what we can do about it.
The first three posts explored the risks. This one is about protecting and even growing your mind while making full use of AI.
#AI #PKM #Zettelkasten #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence
'The ability to think for oneself is a deliberate practice developed by being curious about your own thoughts.'
That line from my latest post on knowledge collapse surprised me when I wrote it. The risk from AI isn't just societal — it's about what we each choose to keep for ourselves.
Final part of the series before we move on to solutions next week: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/ai-knowledge-collapse-risk/
Here's the question that's stuck with me from this post: how can we know whether AI is conscious if we can't even verify that other humans are?
It's the only example of general intelligence we know — and we call it conscious. So what does that tell us about what to look for in artificial intelligence?
Worth sitting with: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/the-sentient-machine-key-takeaways-on-ai-humanity-and-our-future/
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Philosophy #Consciousness #AGI #LLM
The post on knowledge collapse identifies three things we can actually do:
1. Keep some activities AI-free — to preserve cognitive skills and specialist thinking
2. Invest in niche knowledge — the kind AI is most likely to smooth away
3. Push back on AI training on AI-generated data
None of these feel radical. But they all require some deliberate intention.
New post: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/ai-knowledge-collapse-risk/
Research shows AI-generated content is narrower than what humans create alone. If AI trains on AI content, the narrowing compounds over time.
This is what researchers call knowledge collapse — the gradual loss of specialist, niche, and unorthodox knowledge from our collective pool.
New post — third in our series on AI and human cognition: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/ai-knowledge-collapse-risk/
#AI #KnowledgeManagement #PKM #ArtificialIntelligence #KnowledgeCollapse
There's a line in this post that I keep coming back to: we have a window to determine our future relationship with AI. But we have no idea how long that window will remain open.
It could be years, decades, or millennia. Either way, the time to start asking the hard questions is now.
If you haven't read this one: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/the-sentient-machine-key-takeaways-on-ai-humanity-and-our-future/
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AGI #Philosophy #Technology #LLM
One of the ideas that stays with me from this post: Yuval Noah Harari argues that language is the operating system of human civilisation. Human language is how we build shared reality — money, laws, culture, politics.
We've now handed AI the key to that OS. Until now, only humans could shape our intersubjective reality.
This post explores what that shift means: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/the-sentient-machine-key-takeaways-on-ai-humanity-and-our-future/
My recent post got me thinking back to this one — written over a year ago, but the core idea still sits with me.
Amir Husain argues that AI is a mirror to humanity. Before AGI arrives, we have a rare window to examine what it means to be human. The question is: how long does that window stay open?
Worth revisiting if you missed it: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/the-sentient-machine-key-takeaways-on-ai-humanity-and-our-future/
This post is part 2 of a series exploring AI's impact on human cognition. Part 3 goes somewhere darker: the possibility of a Knowledge Collapse, what happens when we outsource our thinking at scale.
If you're curious about the human side of AI, this series might be worth following.
Start here: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/cognitive-effects-technology-history
#PKM #AI #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #SecondBrain #NoteTaking
Writing this post made me realise something. I was one of those children who genuinely struggled to learn to read. Reading isn't a natural human ability, it's a technology we invented, and it has shaped our intellectual evolution.
That reframe shifted how I think about AI. If even reading reshaped us, what might generative AI do?
https://www.ctnet.co.uk/cognitive-effects-technology-history
#PKM #AI #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #Obsidian
I've been exploring how every major technology from writing to AI has sparked cognitive anxiety: are we losing something essential?
The history suggests we adapt. But I'm genuinely uncertain whether generative AI is different in kind, not just degree.
What do you think? Has any particular technology changed how you think or remember?
https://www.ctnet.co.uk/cognitive-effects-technology-history
#PKM #AI #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #CognitiveScience
The Google effect: because we know we can search for anything online, we're more likely to forget the information. The internet didn't just change what we know, it changed how we remember.
So what will generative AI change? That's the question I explore in this week's post.
https://www.ctnet.co.uk/cognitive-effects-technology-history
#PKM #AI #GoogleEffect #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence
Every major technology in history has sparked fears about what it's doing to our minds. Writing. The printing press. Calculators. The internet.
We've been here before. But is AI different? That's what I explore in today's new post.
https://www.ctnet.co.uk/cognitive-effects-technology-history
#PKM #AI #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #CognitiveScience #Productivity
Socrates worried that writing would destroy our memory. The printing press caused information overload panic. The internet was going to make us stupid.
Sound familiar? New post tomorrow tracing the history of cognitive concern, and asking what generative AI means for all of this.
#PKM #AI #KnowledgeManagement #ArtificialIntelligence #CognitiveScience
Five years of Zettelkasten has convinced me: your PKM isn't just a note store. It's a cognitive architecture — a way of thinking for yourself rather than outsourcing it.
The final post in my AI and cognition series explores how Zettelkasten protects your thinking, and where AI fits in: https://www.ctnet.co.uk/pkm-cognitive-protection-ai/
I include this in the system prompt of every AI I use:
'Give honest and constructive feedback.'
I want AI to help me become a better thinker — which means I need it to challenge me, not just agree with me. That's a harder thing to get right than it sounds. https://www.ctnet.co.uk/protecting-your-mind-from-ai/
