Whenever a new technology drops , humans can tend to panic. In Plato’s Phaedrus (written in the fourth century BCE), Socrates tells the story of an Egyptian god who invents the art of writing and tries to bestow it as a gift to humanity. They’re less than thrilled. “This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories,” Thamus, a local king, complains. “They will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing . . . having the show of wisdom without the reality.” Twenty-four centuries later, amid the disorientation of the AI boom, this argument is relevant once again. The arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022 sparked a debate around whether the technology will supercharge human creativity and critical thinking or effectively replace them as it automates an increasingly broad range of cognitive tasks. Tech companies breathlessly promote AI as an end to menial drudgework, liberating our attention for more engaging and meaningful pursuits.…