We’re Automating Ourselves Into Stupidity – And Calling It Progress
We were promised liberation.
From the tyranny of repetitive tasks. From 9-to-5 monotony. From menial labor.
Instead, we’re outsourcing not just our work, but our thinking, our learning, even our judgment — to lines of code optimized for speed, not wisdom.
Welcome to the golden age of automation — where intelligence is optional and convenience is king.
The Seduction of Simplicity
Why learn a skill when AI can do it for you in five seconds?
Write a blog? Use a prompt.
Design a logo? Try a template.
Make a decision? Feed it to a model.
Every click, every shortcut, every automation promises to “save time.”
But we never ask: save time for what?
Instead of using automation to elevate ourselves, we’ve used it to avoid effort. And now we call that progress.
Illustration Prompt 1:
“A human brain being replaced piece by piece with conveyor belt automation parts, surrounded by checklists and smartphone notifications.”
(Mood: Satirical, corporate tech dystopia)The Intelligence Trade-Off
Automation should be the wings of human potential. But increasingly, it’s replacing the engine.
When AI makes it easier to skip learning, fewer people bother to understand how things work.
When tools simplify expression, nuance gets flattened.
When machines optimize decisions, values get lost in the math.
We now live in a world where students use ChatGPT to write essays they didn’t understand…
And managers approve AI-generated strategies they didn’t read.
Automation isn’t making us smarter. It’s making us efficient idiots.
Illustration Prompt 2:
“A classroom of students sitting passively while an AI bot teaches, with wires connected to their brains and blank expressions.”
(Mood: Orwellian, dark satire)Gen Z and the Uberization of Skill
This isn’t just a boomer rant. Gen Z lives in an economy of instant gratification by design.
Swipe to match. Tap to buy. Copy to pass.
They’re brilliant — but they’re being trained to consume knowledge, not build it.
And who can blame them when the entire digital economy rewards dopamine over discipline?
Entrepreneurs, Beware: Convenience Kills Culture
If your team is just plugging prompts into tools, you don’t have a business — you have an automation stack.
The entrepreneurial edge comes from insight, intuition, and iteration — not regurgitating predictable patterns.
Outsourcing intelligence leads to blandness.
It’s why so many AI-driven brands feel like clones of each other — generic, forgettable, soulless.
Illustration Prompt 3:
“A startup office filled with robots at desks, each typing identical pitch decks on glowing screens while a bored human watches.”
(Mood: Corporate satire, clean cyberpunk style)What We’re Losing (and Why It Matters)
Automation has real benefits. It can democratize access.
It can reduce burnout. It can accelerate growth.
But here’s what it can’t do:
Develop judgment
Cultivate wisdom
Nurture curiosity
And when we automate too much, we stop developing these qualities ourselves.
We start asking AI to think for us.
Then we stop noticing that it no longer surprises us.
That’s not intelligence. That’s inertia.
Final Thought: Efficiency ≠ Evolution
Progress isn’t about doing less.
It’s about doing better.
If we automate away all our effort, we risk automating away what makes us human.
So next time a tool promises to make life easier — ask yourself:
What part of me will it make weaker?