Thinking Upside Down

"That unease or curiosity pushed us to explore by asking questions, testing hypotheses and discarding what failed. Gradually, an early, tentative structure emerged. Only then did confidence arrive, and even then, it was often far from certainty. That sequence was important and defined a process that has sustained human learning and growth. And importantly, this confidence wasn't a feeling that appeared out of nowhere, but was earned through exposure to uncertainty."

"With the growing acceptance and utility of artificial intelligence, many of us now encounter ideas in reverse. Let's follow the order and this will become strikingly clear. With AI and large language, structure arrives immediately and then a logical explanation follows immediately behind. Confidence follows quickly-not because we worked our way there, but because the presentation "feels" complete. Understanding, if it comes at all, is something we may attempt later, as a kind of cognitive backfill."

Human reasoning historically begins with confusion, prompting questions, experiments, and the abandonment of failed ideas. Exploration yields provisional structure, and confidence emerges only after engagement with uncertainty. Artificial intelligence often reverses that sequence by presenting ready-made structure and polished explanations before understanding is achieved. Early-arriving structure conveys authority, making doubt feel inefficient and encouraging acceptance without scrutiny. The convenience of immediate answers fosters cognitive backfill, where understanding is postponed or bypassed. Reordering cognition in such a way can flatten judgment, diminish humility, suppress diverse voices, and weaken the depth and rigor of human learning. Avoiding struggle risks eroding skills that depend on sustained inquiry and tentative reasoning.

Read at Psychology Today