Will You Really Let AI Do the Thinking For You?

Look around. The digital landscape is becoming a uniform echo chamber. It’s all driven by AI that replicates but never truly creates. If you spend some time online, you’ll quickly notice that everyone is using the same prompts to generate: Scripts Blog posts Newsletters Website copy LinkedIn posts Twitter threads Sales techniques Instagram captions Marketing campaigns Even when it's not sloppy copy-paste jobs, you can still feel the omnipresence of language models’ invisible hand. It’s like a modern-day puppeteer, shaping the expressions and ideas around us. AI is rising fast. These tools are getting exponentially more powerful and intuitive. We are experiencing the decline in human creativity because of the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence and algorithm-driven content creation. This problem is more important than you think. This invasion of AI is reshaping our capacity to innovate and feel fulfilled. When you think of creativity, what comes to mind? Artists? Painters? Singers? Writers? It’s much more than that. It's not just about artistic output. This is about a important part of how we interact with the world. Every technological advancement started as a spark of creativity. From the wheel to smartphones, to Artificial Intelligence—it's all came from someone's creative mind. Creativity isn't just a part of history; it's the entire story. Now before you start saying, ’this doesn’t concern me. I’m not an artist, I’m not a creator’, let me stop you right there and set some things straight. You don’t have to “invent” to create. With words, creativity is nothing more than saying things that others have already said, but in your own voice, through your unique experience and perspective. There is no question that has never been asked, no thought that has never been thought. We are all inspired by what has come before us. We build on top of, we mix and match, we bring ideas together to form new ones. You are already creating daily, even if you don’t realize it. Your thoughts alone are a form of creation. Your emotions are too. Forming a sentence is creating. If you lack purpose, you are not creating enough. Your soul craves creativity—creating feels good. It literally lights your brain on fire. That should be enough of a sign that humans are designed to do this, but I’ll still attempt to prove it to you. The Neuroscience of Creativity: What Happens in the Brain Creativity is a whole-brain activity, but it mainly unfolds in two stages: the initial burst where ideas form freely and the meticulous phase of refining and perfecting those ideas. Let’s focus on these 3 Brain Regions for now: The Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain handles complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and that moderates social behavior. It's active when you are generating new ideas. The Temporal Lobes play an important role in understanding language and forming memories. They're involved when creativity requires drawing on past experiences. The Parietal Lobes process sensory information and spatial orientation. The parietal lobes are crucial when the creative task at hand involves visual or spatial manipulation. Now check this out: A 2008 study involved jazz pianists improvising while getting MRI scans. This is what they found out: Reduced Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: The region associated with self-monitoring and critical thinking. Increased Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The area involved in personal thoughts and emotions. What this means: When you're being creative, your brain stops worrying so much about what you're doing. This lets you come up with more spontaneous and original ideas that are closely tied to your own experiences and feelings. This is the key here. I recently talked about the brain functioning as a prediction machine in The Illusion of Being Stuck. How these predictions shape how we perceive the world around us. I suggested that what you experience as 'reality' is a creation of your own mind, molded by your beliefs, expectations, and your past. And here's where creativity plays a huge role: When you engage in creative activities, you’re rewiring it. Creativity enhances your brain's plasticity, its ability to form new connections and pathways. So the more you create, the more you change your neural architecture. This is reshaping how you perceive your reality. And if creativity alters your brain's function and shapes your perception, could it not then also be shaping the structure of reality itself? Why We Are Made to Create. Ever heard of the Double Slit Experiment? It reveals how electrons and photons can behave like waves, spreading out and passing through two slits simultaneously. But.. as soon as you observe them, they change their behavior and act like particles, going through just one slit. What this suggests is that simply observing something can change its nature. Now, think about the power of your own creativity. Every time you let your mind wander, brainstorm a new idea, or create art, you might actually be shaping reality itself. Every creative act, every problem you solve, every note you play is a brushstroke on the universe’s canvas. It’s clear why our ability to create is tied to our evolution. Our survival has depended on it since the beginning of times. From the first tools to today's technology, creativity has driven our advancement as a society. The problem is.. While this last one was also born from human creativity, it now threatens to kill it. These large language models simply regurgitate information without real innovation. Most people are now outsourcing their creativity to algorithms, losing the essence of what makes them human in the process. This is what we must protect against. The epidemic of creativity loss is far more damaging than what smartphones did to presence. I believe it’s also worse than the effect of social media on attention spans. I need you to keep it real. Don’t be passive. It’s easy to let machines do the thinking for you. But remember, every time you rely on AI to solve a problem or create something new, you lose a piece of your own creative spirit. Create. Think. Write. The format doesn’t really matter. Whether it’s writing a blog, painting a landscape, redesigning your garden, or having a deep conversation with someone—use your reality building machine, not the external ones we built. Your creations help build the web of human experience and knowledge—It doesn’t matter how small or personal they are. Share your ideas and participate in the continued advancement of general consciousness. You have an important role in it, and you are responsible as much as the other person. Be active in the way you live. Every decision, every action, is an opportunity to be creative. Choose creation over consumption. Choose action over passivity. “Speak for yourself..” I’ve asked you to keep it real, so it’s only fair that I do the same.. To be honest, I struggle with it too. Every time I sit down to write a letter, the temptation to ask ChatGPT for help is like a shadow following me at every coffee shop. But it defeats the purpose. First, using AI to write my letters doesn’t satisfy my creative thirst. Second, it doesn’t feel genuine. Writing has been incredibly fulfilling for me since I started. It's a way to bring my thoughts to life in a condensed, organized manner. It helps me think better, and it gives me joy and purpose. But it’s more than that. When I write, I'm sharing a piece of myself with you. I share things that are deeply personal. I believe that this is the kind of creative output, genuine exploration, and authentic expression that is useful to the world. When my stories resonate with you, you let me know. You share it with your friends. That connection, that shared understanding, is irreplaceable. Computer outputs can't accomplish this. Closing thoughts Here’s a challenge: For the next week, dedicate 30 minutes each day to creating something without any digital aids. Write a poem to your significant other. Sketch your dream house. Brainstorm ideas for a new project. Start your newsletter and share your thoughts on the world. Notice how you feel before, during, and after this process. Your creativity is more important than ever. It drives innovation. It’s the essence of what makes you human. Don’t let the convenience of AI take away your creative power. Creativity doesn’t have to be perfect.. au contraire, my friend. Just look at what you’re reading now. If you are too scared to ‘create’, it means you have not read the Fuck It philosophy yet. So I suggest you do that next. And if you have—what’s your excuse? Create boldly. Live authentically. Contribute to the unique touch of the world. The world needs you. Strategizingly yours, Ben. P.S. If this message resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out on LinkedIn, share your story, or just say hello. If you prefer to say hi on X, I’m cool with it too. P.P.S. Someone forwarded this letter to you? Click here to subscribe and receive the next one directly in your inbox. Look around. The digital landscape is becoming a uniform echo chamber. It’s all driven by AI that replicates but never truly creates. If you spend some time online, you’ll quickly notice that everyone is using the same prompts to generate: Scripts Blog posts Newsletters Website copy LinkedIn posts Twitter threads Sales techniques Instagram captions Marketing campaigns Scripts Scripts Blog posts Blog posts Newsletters Newsletters Website copy Website copy LinkedIn posts LinkedIn posts Twitter threads Twitter threads Sales techniques Sales techniques Instagram captions Instagram captions Marketing campaigns Marketing campaigns Even when it's not sloppy copy-paste jobs, you can still feel the omnipresence of language models’ invisible hand. It’s like a modern-day puppeteer, shaping the expressions and ideas around us. AI is rising fast. These tools are getting exponentially more powerful and intuitive. We are experiencing the decline in human creativity because of the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence and algorithm-driven content creation. This problem is more important than you think. This invasion of AI is reshaping our capacity to innovate and feel fulfilled. When you think of creativity, what comes to mind? Artists? Painters? Singers? Writers? It’s much more than that. It's not just about artistic output. This is about a important part of how we interact with the world. Every technological advancement started as a spark of creativity. From the wheel to smartphones, to Artificial Intelligence—it's all came from someone's creative mind. Creativity isn't just a part of history; it's the entire story . it's the entire story Now before you start saying, ’ this doesn’t concern me. I’m not an artist, I’m not a creator ’, let me stop you right there and set some things straight. this doesn’t concern me. I’m not an artist, I’m not a creator You don’t have to “invent” to create. You don’t have to “invent” to create. With words, creativity is nothing more than saying things that others have already said, but in your own voice, through your unique experience and perspective. There is no question that has never been asked, no thought that has never been thought . no thought that has never been thought We are all inspired by what has come before us. We build on top of, we mix and match, we bring ideas together to form new ones. You are already creating daily, even if you don’t realize it. You are already creating daily, even if you don’t realize it. Your thoughts alone are a form of creation. Your emotions are too. Forming a sentence is creating. If you lack purpose, you are not creating enough. If you lack purpose, you are not creating enough. Your soul craves creativity—creating feels good. It literally lights your brain on fire. That should be enough of a sign that humans are designed to do this, but I’ll still attempt to prove it to you. The Neuroscience of Creativity: What Happens in the Brain The Neuroscience of Creativity: What Happens in the Brain Creativity is a whole-brain activity, but it mainly unfolds in two stages: the initial burst where ideas form freely and the meticulous phase of refining and perfecting those ideas. the initial burst where ideas form freely the initial burst where ideas form freely and the meticulous phase of refining and perfecting those ideas. and the meticulous phase of refining and perfecting those ideas. Let’s focus on these 3 Brain Regions for now: Let’s focus on these 3 Brain Regions for now: The Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain handles complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and that moderates social behavior. It's active when you are generating new ideas. The Temporal Lobes play an important role in understanding language and forming memories. They're involved when creativity requires drawing on past experiences. The Parietal Lobes process sensory information and spatial orientation. The parietal lobes are crucial when the creative task at hand involves visual or spatial manipulation. The Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain handles complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and that moderates social behavior. It's active when you are generating new ideas. The Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain handles complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and that moderates social behavior. It's active when you are generating new ideas. The Prefrontal Cortex The Temporal Lobes play an important role in understanding language and forming memories. They're involved when creativity requires drawing on past experiences. The Temporal Lobes play an important role in understanding language and forming memories. They're involved when creativity requires drawing on past experiences. The Temporal Lobes The Parietal Lobes process sensory information and spatial orientation. The parietal lobes are crucial when the creative task at hand involves visual or spatial manipulation. The Parietal Lobes process sensory information and spatial orientation. The parietal lobes are crucial when the creative task at hand involves visual or spatial manipulation. The Parietal Lobes Now check this out: Now check this out: A 2008 study involved jazz pianists improvising while getting MRI scans. 2008 study This is what they found out: Reduced Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: The region associated with self-monitoring and critical thinking. Increased Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The area involved in personal thoughts and emotions. Reduced Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: The region associated with self-monitoring and critical thinking. Reduced Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: The region associated with self-monitoring and critical thinking. Reduced Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: Increased Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The area involved in personal thoughts and emotions. Increased Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The area involved in personal thoughts and emotions. Increased Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: What this means: When you're being creative, your brain stops worrying so much about what you're doing. This lets you come up with more spontaneous and original ideas that are closely tied to your own experiences and feelings. This is the key here. I recently talked about the brain functioning as a prediction machine in The Illusion of Being Stuck . How these predictions shape how we perceive the world around us. I suggested that what you experience as 'reality' is a creation of your own mind, molded by your beliefs, expectations, and your past. The Illusion of Being Stuck And here's where creativity plays a huge role: When you engage in creative activities, you’re rewiring it . you’re rewiring it you’re rewiring it Creativity enhances your brain's plasticity, its ability to form new connections and pathways. So the more you create, the more you change your neural architecture. This is reshaping how you perceive your reality. And if creativity alters your brain's function and shapes your perception, could it not then also be shaping the structure of reality itself? Why We Are Made to Create. Why We Are Made to Create. Ever heard of the Double Slit Experiment ? It reveals how electrons and photons can behave like waves, spreading out and passing through two slits simultaneously. Double Slit Experiment But.. as soon as you observe them, they change their behavior and act like particles, going through just one slit. What this suggests is that simply observing something can change its nature. simply observing something can change its nature. Now, think about the power of your own creativity. Every time you let your mind wander, brainstorm a new idea, or create art, you might actually be shaping reality itself. shaping reality itself. shaping reality itself. Every creative act, every problem you solve, every note you play is a brushstroke on the universe’s canvas. It’s clear why our ability to create is tied to our evolution. Our survival has depended on it since the beginning of times. From the first tools to today's technology, creativity has driven our advancement as a society. The problem is.. While this last one was also born from human creativity, it now threatens to kill it. it now threatens to kill it. These large language models simply regurgitate information without real innovation. Most people are now outsourcing their creativity to algorithms, losing the essence of what makes them human in the process. This is what we must protect against. This is what we must protect against. The epidemic of creativity loss is far more damaging than what smartphones did to presence. I believe it’s also worse than the effect of social media on attention spans. I need you to keep it real. I need you to keep it real. Don’t be passive. It’s easy to let machines do the thinking for you. But remember, every time you rely on AI to solve a problem or create something new, you lose a piece of your own creative spirit. Create. Think. Write. Create. Think. Write. The format doesn’t really matter. Whether it’s writing a blog, painting a landscape, redesigning your garden, or having a deep conversation with someone—use your reality building machine, not the external ones we built. Your creations help build the web of human experience and knowledge—It doesn’t matter how small or personal they are. Share your ideas and participate in the continued advancement of general consciousness. You have an important role in it, and you are responsible as much as the other person. Be active in the way you live. Every decision, every action, is an opportunity to be creative. Choose creation over consumption. Choose action over passivity. “Speak for yourself..” “Speak for yourself..” I’ve asked you to keep it real, so it’s only fair that I do the same.. To be honest, I struggle with it too. Every time I sit down to write a letter, the temptation to ask ChatGPT for help is like a shadow following me at every coffee shop. But it defeats the purpose. But it defeats the purpose. But it defeats the purpose. First, using AI to write my letters doesn’t satisfy my creative thirst. Second, it doesn’t feel genuine. Writing has been incredibly fulfilling for me since I started. It's a way to bring my thoughts to life in a condensed, organized manner. It helps me think better, and it gives me joy and purpose. But it’s more than that. When I write, I'm sharing a piece of myself with you. I share things that are deeply personal. I believe that this is the kind of creative output, genuine exploration, and authentic expression that is useful to the world. When my stories resonate with you, you let me know. You share it with your friends. That connection, that shared understanding, is irreplaceable. Computer outputs can't accomplish this. Closing thoughts Here’s a challenge: For the next week, dedicate 30 minutes each day to creating something without any digital aids . without any digital aids Write a poem to your significant other. Sketch your dream house. Brainstorm ideas for a new project. Start your newsletter and share your thoughts on the world. Write a poem to your significant other. Sketch your dream house. Brainstorm ideas for a new project. Start your newsletter and share your thoughts on the world. Notice how you feel before, during , and after this process. before, during after Your creativity is more important than ever. It drives innovation. It’s the essence of what makes you human. Don’t let the convenience of AI take away your creative power. Creativity doesn’t have to be perfect.. au contraire, my friend. Just look at what you’re reading now. If you are too scared to ‘create’, it means you have not read the Fuck It philosophy yet. So I suggest you do that next. Fuck It philosophy And if you have—what’s your excuse? Create boldly. Live authentically. Contribute to the unique touch of the world. The world needs you. Strategizingly yours, Ben. P.S. If this message resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out on LinkedIn , share your story, or just say hello. If you prefer to say hi on X , I’m cool with it too. LinkedIn LinkedIn X X P.P.S. Someone forwarded this letter to you? 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