We built gyms when machines took our movement. With AI doing more of the thinkin
By Celesteyamile · October 6, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
We built gyms when machines took our movement. With AI doing more of the thinking, what will we build next?
In 1769, James Watt patented a steam engine upgrade that cut wasted fuel.
Machines soon took over heavy work in British factories, and historians date the first phase of the Industrial Revolution to roughly 1760 to 1840.
Once movement stopped being part of the day, we had to schedule it back in.
That's where gyms came from.
AI is doing something similar now:
Researching, writing, coding, ALL faster
And the same problem ☝️
One study even found students with GPT access scored 17% lower on exams than classmates who never had it.
So...
As someone who uses AI daily for a living, this is what I live by now to keep my brain from atrophying:
Screen 👏 free 👏 time 👏
❇️ Pen, paper, a whiteboard. Writing by hand connects more of the brain than typing does.
❇️ Not even headphones while walking or on transportation. Let my mind get bored and ask "why" at least 5 times to find gaps I wouldn't find otherwise.
With AI doing most of the heavy lifting, the question might now become:
How do we use our brains on purpose?
Feels like a Black Mirror plot 😅