…And my head, I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain…
— ‘If I Only Had a Brain’ by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, 1939.
I realized, the other day, that I no longer need to think. All the thinking is being done for me, on my behalf. Sitting around thinking, these days, is just a foolish waste of time.
I suppose that’s been the case for a long time, but these days it’s become especially obvious.
When I was a kid in school, and was supposed to be analyzing a algebraic equation — you know the kind I mean — or writing an essay about ‘What I Did on My Summer Vacation’… my brain would just totally shut off, like flipping a light switch. Or worse, I would start fantasizing about Judy Wong, sitting in the next row over, which was just as big a waste of time as the algebraic equation.
These kinds of mental activities do not qualify as ‘thinking’.
‘Thinking’ — properly understood — takes your mind on a journey from Point A to Point B. That simply never happened in a school classroom. I started at Point A and ended up at Point A.
Sure, our teachers believed they were teaching us ‘critical thinking skills’. They believed this, because they had also lost the ability to think.
But things have gotten especially bad, in 2026.
Like, this conversation on Reddit.com:
I feel like I don’t even think anymore.
I am 20/F and I have recently noticed that I have nothing to say… like ever. It doesn’t really bother me until people bring it up. I feel like it’s affecting my relationships and my friendships, but I’m genuinely not thinking of anything. I used to talk all the time and would have so many deep thoughts, and now it’s like I’ve been reduced to thinking “I’m hungry” and other basic body functions. Has this happened to anyone else?
Yes, it is happening to many of us, even those of us who are not 20/F…
…As the Reddit responses revealed, from several dozen people wanting to be helpful, but who probably weren’t.
…Feeling the same for awhile now. Been so busy and have so many demands on my time and energy, everything has just switched to automatic and it’s like I’m not really in touch with anything or anyone. I have nothing to contribute to conversations and it is a relief when I can just be alone. I used to write and laugh and look forward to catching up – now it is just awkward and draining…
…I don’t have advice but I’ve been having this exact problem lately. I feel zombie-like and it’s quite unpleasant…
…I feel like I lost all my intellectual curiosity. I used to google so many things, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube educational videos, read wiki articles for fun. It’s like I don’t want to use my brain anymore after so many years of pressure from school. I keep wondering if I lost interest in everything to give my brain a break. Like ignorance is bliss?…
In the midst of this depressing string of commentary and commiseration, we were treated to an even more depressing comment that — at first — looked like just another response to the 20/F who posted the initial question.
Built to scale with you from the start. Codex, available with ChatGPT.
For any of my readers who are not coders, Codex is an AI tool designed to write computer code. So we don’t need to think, if we are software engineers. Codex will handle it for us.
I’m not a software engineer, but I’ve always pictured software engineers as the kind of people who enjoyed thinking.
Apparently not. Or, maybe they once were, but not any longer.
Now that I think about it… why did ChatGPT serve me an advertisement about Codex? They know very well I’m not a software engineer.
Maybe they know that I’m concerned that people have stopped thinking… and this was their idea of a cruel joke.
However, the big question is: How did we end up like this? The world seemed so bright and sunny when I was younger. Was the world better, back then, because people were still thinking? Or did all of their thinking accidentally create a world where no one wants to think… and maybe we’re all going to be better off, now, when no one has a thought for the future?
I don’t want to think about it.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.