Where Have Our Brains Gone ?!

Some are gonna hate.
Some are gonna love.

A day on LinkedIn (or anywhere):

→ Zero nuance. Extremes. Good vs bad guys.
→ AI-Generated thinking everywhere. Not “assisted.” GENERATED.
→ Identity Signaling floods: “I stand with…” “We believe in…” Empty words.

Are we 5?

Our brains are dying. In real time.

Overly dramatic? Maybe.

But the death of thinking happens in stages.

1️⃣ We lose NUANCE:

The moment you lose nuance, you lose the ability for complex thinking.

Black & White replaces GREY and all its shades.

And in a world of UNPRECEDENTED complexity?
Complex thinking is probably THE #1 skill.

2️⃣ We OUTSOURCE thinking:

AI is now officially STEP 1 of ANY thinking process.

Not as a tool.
As a replacement.

The consequences?

It’s creating an entire generation incapable of original thought.

Can’t write.
Can’t communicate.
Can’t solve problems.

The worse part?

It’s NOT some dystopian future.
It’s happening NOW.

And it’s vicious, self-feeding cycle:
→ The more you outsource, the less you think.
→ The less you think, the less capable you become.
→ The less capable, the more you outsource.

♻️☠️

We saw this with Gen Z first.

→ The struggle with critical thinking.
→ No attention span.
→ The inability to sustain effort.
→ No willingness to stick with hard problems.

But the truly SCARY part?

For the first time in history, we’re watching a “generational pattern” work BACKWARDS.

Older generations are mimicking.
It’s spreading like a virus 🦠

And AI AGENTS will only speed it up.

How?

Until recently:
→ You had a question
→ Google said: “Here are 100s of POSSIBLE answers”
→ YOU had to analyse and figure out.

Now:
→ You ask ChatGPT
→ It says: “Here is THE TRUTH”

And most people WANT this.
A SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH.

They don’t want nuance.
Don’t want to weigh pros and cons ⚖️

Most are looking for what’s EXACTLY TRUE.

It’s a flaw AI is reinforcing.

And we’re losing something massive:
The ability to CONNECT random dots.

REMEMBER MEMORIZING?

Real memorizing FORCES understanding.
To build networks in your brain.

The more you have, the more disconnected dots you connect.

That’s LATERAL THINKING.
That’s how breakthroughs happen.

And, the more SYNTHETIC we think…

The more we rely on machines, the more it REWIRES our brain.

It changes how we process REALITY itself.

We’re already in ECHO CHAMBERS.
Algorithms narrow what information we SEE.

BUT…

If we also outsource HOW WE PROCESS IT.

The end result?

Everyone thinking the same EMPTY thoughts.

No REAL debate. No clash of IDEAS.
Only a clash of PRE-FED narratives.

Remember old TV debates?

They had something we’ve lost:
REAL polarity. REAL thinking.
Minds at work.

So I’ll ask again:
Where have our brains gone?! 🔎🧠

Is this REALLY the world we want to live in?
To teach our kids? To conform to?

DON’T SURRENDER YOUR THINKING.
KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE.

To your cognitive success,

Gaetan Portaels

Original publication date — March, 2025 (HERE)