AI and the Deterioration of the Human Mind

Deep within us, in a very subtle form, there is a certain primordial memory of being in the womb when life was a bliss in a state of absolute non-doing. Every need was met without asking; there was no effort needed from us, no hunger, no danger. Warmth, nourishment, security and safety flowed automatically, and the body grew without planning, in perfect rhythm and harmony. After our birth on this planet, we as humanity yearn and long for such a similar state of being. Our desire for efficiency in terms of survival arises from this very remembrance. This capability of such subtle remembrance comes due to our heightened level of self-awareness. Over time, we have been building tools and systems so that we all reach such a similar state of life where survival is taken care of with little to no effort and thinking, perhaps hoping to have most of our time and energy to discover and explore something that is beyond mere survival.

We began creating simple tools like a knife, which is an extended capability of the hand’s cutting ability, and the wheel, which made movement faster and easier. Post industrial revolution, we created machines that replicate and even exceed specific body functions, a crane for arm strength, robot arms and assembly lines for hand precision, cars, trains and conveyor belts for walking and running. These machines don’t just mimic human effort; they scale it up exponentially. What once took a hundred people now takes a single machine, and we marveled at our creations and celebrated our newfound freedom from hard labor.

As time passed, we witnessed the digital revolution, information revolution and now the AI revolution, each replicating and exceeding mental functions, memory, logic, decision-making, creativity and more. These developments and revolutions have drastically improved our survival and greatly enhanced our lifestyles. Today, most middle-class people live lives far more comfortable than the kings and queens of the past could have ever dreamed. And this is no small achievement. Many company leaders, CEOs and innovators speak about these advancements with great optimism, and that is fine. But beneath this optimism lies a deeper question: how are these developments affecting human consciousness?

The industrial revolution made our bodies weak since we had to use them less to work, which led to physical deterioration and made us more susceptible to physical illnesses and conditions we suffer today. The information and digital revolutions, in turn, made our memory, logic and creativity weaker and dull. Similarly, AI will take it further, making us more mentally weak and susceptible to deeper mental illnesses. Physical illnesses were often individual or local, and the suffering was limited. However, mental illnesses can spread rapidly, leading to mass psychosis and causing the collective downfall of humanity. We are becoming more impatient, compulsive and hyperactive physically, while at the same time becoming more passive, dull and numb mentally as time passes by.

Even though we are building and maintaining great and beautiful structured infrastructure, buildings, machines and systems, always figuring out how to make them function with a minimum of inefficiency, our mind, on the other hand, is becoming more and more inefficient, stupid and dull. The computers and AI outdo man at every turn, yet without man, they could not exist. We take pride in having built great tools, machines, computers and AI systems. But the simple fact is that they are not built by all of us. They are built by the few active brains of humans that are energetic, creative and intelligent, while the rest of us live on them, rotting and often rejoicing in our rot, assuming that our quality of life is getting better. Few of us go to our jobs and work towards maintaining these systems with little brain that is required for a hefty paycheck, just to fuel the development of these tools and systems that are only aiding the rapid deterioration of the human mind, possibly leading to mass psychosis.

Every human life is born with the potential of attaining genius and the highest form of intelligence. But only a few have attained their higher potential due to chance, situations, environment and other factors, and these few have influenced the world in building more efficiency and convenience. As this efficiency and convenience become more common, it should be taken with gratitude and seen as assistance. Most of us need to work towards the fruition of our own individual intelligence rather than letting it deteriorate our minds. The fruition of individual intelligence is needed for spiritual inspiration and the drive to reach the state of bliss we have all been longing for since birth. But rather, due to ignorance, lack of awareness and direction, we try to substitute our longing for bliss with cheap thrills, pleasures and instant gratification, postponing our true fulfillment and further deteriorating our minds.

The work to awaken the individual intelligence lies in releasing and working out the unused potential energies that have been suppressed by modern lifestyles and technological development. We let the suppression of these energies happen over time because we ourselves lacked the self-awareness to intervene in the inner crime that was happening within us. The few active brains that develop technology serve the businesses that are profit-centric rather than human-wellbeing-centric, and rarely take any responsibility for the direction of human consciousness and growth. This situation begs for the silent revolution we need to stand for.

Technological development has given us conveniences like toilet paper, but the same development has given us notebooks to write thoughts and poetry. It has given us conveniences such as microwave ovens, but the same development has given us electric guitars and keyboards to create music. The internet has given us the convenience to binge-watch endlessly, making us passive, but the same internet has also given us access to courses, ideas, and mentors that can inspire our minds. Food delivery apps have made us lazy to cook, but the same apps can connect us to healthy meal plans, fasting routines, and nutrition tracking. AI assistants have made it easy to avoid thinking, but they can also help us write books, make art, and learn new skills faster than ever.

Now it is up to us how we use our discretion. What kind of tools and activities we choose will determine the quality of our life and our karma. Whether we become passive consumers, living in numb comfort and instant gratification, or active creators and seekers exploring the heights of human consciousness, remains our choice.

In the end, AI and technological advancements are only tools. They can either serve the businesses hungry for growth and profit, or they can be used to enhance our state of being, to remember our primordial longing for bliss, to awaken our individual intelligence and to attain the highest potential life can offer. But if we let ourselves be carried away by convenience without awareness, the deterioration of the human mind will not stop at dullness and inefficiency; it could lead us towards a deeper downfall of humanity itself.

Only through self-awareness, responsibility and creative use of our energies can we hope to truly honor these tools, rather than become weak, passive and numb victims of our own creations.

Develop Your Mind