Welcome to Costco. I love you.
If you’ve seen Idiocracy, you might remember the absurdity of this line, delivered by an employee in a dystopian world where intellectual decay reigns supreme.
The satirical exaggeration (is it?) that Mike Judge gave us in this 2016 film, AI as we know it, was not in the picture. What was? A cultural cocktail of apathy, anti-intellectualism, and our collective preference for the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, it had been for a while, it still is and is getting progressively worse. And the end result? A society so devoid of critical thinking that “Brawndo: It’s Got What Plants Crave” became a serious agricultural strategy.
Fast forward to today.
AI: The New Short-Cut to Stupid?
While Idiocracy satirized a culture steeped in anti-intellectualism, the parallels with our AI-driven reality are hard to miss. A recent MDPI paper, AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking, offers a thought-provoking analysis: More than relying on AI to help us think, we are abrogating our thinking to AI.
This phenomenon, known as cognitive offloading, occurs when we hand over tasks that once required mental effort to machines. Think about it: When did you last memorize a phone number or solve a math problem without a calculator? Let’s face it: If GPS vanished tomorrow, most of us would be found wandering in circles, mumbling, “Recalculating.”
Mike Judge wasn’t thinking about AI when he wrote Idiocracy. The world he imagined didn’t need advanced tech to become dumb; it got there the old-fashioned way by treating intellect as optional and expertise as elitist. The new way is to use the convenience as an excuse.
The Slippery Slope of Convenience
Convenience is delightful until it’s insidious.
- AI Essays: Why struggle with original ideas when you can turn in a passable imitation?
- GPS Reliance: Who needs a sense of direction when your phone has one? (Full disclosure. I have no sense of direction, as my wife will vehemently attest to, and I do rely almost entirely on GPS.)
- Generative Art: Stunning, yes. But is it feeding creativity or numbing it?
If we’re not careful, this convenience could lead to what I like to call the “Idiocracy Effect,” and we end up outsourcing so much of our thinking that we forget how to think at all.
How to Avoid an Idiocracy-Like Future
There’s still time to avoid Idiocracy’s future of electrolytes and Costco love greetings. Outsource the labor, not the thinking.
- Make AI Your Sous-Chef, Not Your Chef: AI is excellent for chopping onions, not making the whole meal. Use it as a tool to enhance your thinking, not to replace it.
- Teach Kids to Think About Thinking: Schools need to prioritize digital literacy. If we can’t spot the garbage in AI-generated content, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.
- Do Some Heavy Lifting: Memorize something. Solve a problem without Google. Surprise your brain by using it.
- Stay Curious: Curiosity is your best defense. Ask questions — especially when AI hands you a suspiciously neat answer.
Don’t Let the Greeter Win
Idiocracy was meant to be satire, not prophecy. Unfortunately, we do not need AI to turn into idiocracy. We were already doing a fine job of it, and now AI has simply accelerated the fall. The MDPI paper warns that without critical intervention, critical thinking could become as outdated as a PDA.
It’s not all gloom. The good news is that the dumbing down isn’t inevitable.
But as we embrace an AI-driven future, it’s worth asking whether we are still driving the bus or letting autopilot steer us off a cliff.
The choice is ours.
Do you really want to live in a world where the best idea for watering crops is, “Let’s try electrolytes!”
