It's funny- I had the e-bike thought a few days ago-but less charitably. In my neck of the woods a particular breed of especially fat-tired, awfully fast, never-actually-seen-it-pedaled e-bike has been surging in popularity, and functionally has turned into a way to get away with driving a small motorcycle on the bike and walking paths- a weird netherworld device that mostly just serve to muck things up. It's less old people being enabled and dads towing a pack of kids through nature and more almost being run over by disaffected teenagers.
I dunno- the longer this hype cycle goes on the more that chatbots really just seem like a bad tool, regardless of their technical sophistication. More amputation than augmentation. They do too much if you are trying to improve yourself (synthesized homework text is one of their major markets) and do too little if you have actual work to do (not enough knobs to turn for creatives trying to express themselves, and fake law citations will never do). Just like with the metaverse and crypto and all the rest, the giant pool of money is doing its best to drive uptake through sheer noise with a product that might just be kind of bad in a durable way, or at least kind of niche (given how much coding is boilerplate in something besides your native language, sure, maybe the boilerplate generator is a nice thing to have).
Very cool to come across this, thanks! i recently wrote a post (on taking the long way) wrestling with McLuhan’s augmentation/amputation thing and arrived in a very similar place. The e bike comparison is illuminating.
I have had similar thoughts about GPS navigation. We used to study paper maps and experiment with different routes. Now we just punch in an address and get turn by turn instructions. As a result we never get a sense of geography or learn to find our own way, forever dependent on Google to get us there.
A couple further thoughts experiments using the analogy. For context, I'm a regular bike enthusiast married to an e-bike rider :)
Effort per Outcome vs Outcome per Effort
I remember reading about a study that had participants ride around a track using bikes and e-bikes for a set period of time tracking their exertion levels. The e-bike participants had the same or higher exertion levels over the same period of time (the theory for the higher exertion being that increased speed for the same exertion was enough of a cognitive reward to push riders to pedal harder). Which is to say there are often multiple ways to look at the same thing. If the goal is to ride from point a to point b, the e-bike will take less effort, but if the goal is to be outside for half an hour the effort will be about the same but you'll go further and see more. Similarly, AI can be used to reduce cognitive effort depending on the goal, but it could theoretically be used to provide more productivity for the same cognitive effort.
Accessibility
I'm not sure how "older" those older ladies were going up the same hill as you, but it's quite possible that they would never have taken the time and effort to top that hill without e-bikes. E-bikes are great for improving accessibility to the active transportation space, but they also come with drawbacks. E-bikes have a lot of a mass (motor + battery) and allow folks who may not be in their physical prime to travel as fast and aggressively as those that are, leading to more accidents. Similarly, folks with less artistic capabilities can use AI to generate art for powerpoints or party invites, which is theoretically making art more accessible, but without the background or thought behind it there are potential consequences too (outside of the ethical dilemma itself).
Interestingly in the UK e-bikes _must_ be propelled with human energy and can only support you up to 15.5mph / 25kph. Otherwise, it's a moped and you need to get a drivers license / register it as a motor vehicle. There are 'jailbroken' bikes where you can just use the motor but the police are cracking down on those as they're proving to be a public safety issue. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/04/britains-e-bike-boom-desperation-delivery-drivers-and-unthinkable-danger
It's funny- I had the e-bike thought a few days ago-but less charitably. In my neck of the woods a particular breed of especially fat-tired, awfully fast, never-actually-seen-it-pedaled e-bike has been surging in popularity, and functionally has turned into a way to get away with driving a small motorcycle on the bike and walking paths- a weird netherworld device that mostly just serve to muck things up. It's less old people being enabled and dads towing a pack of kids through nature and more almost being run over by disaffected teenagers.
I dunno- the longer this hype cycle goes on the more that chatbots really just seem like a bad tool, regardless of their technical sophistication. More amputation than augmentation. They do too much if you are trying to improve yourself (synthesized homework text is one of their major markets) and do too little if you have actual work to do (not enough knobs to turn for creatives trying to express themselves, and fake law citations will never do). Just like with the metaverse and crypto and all the rest, the giant pool of money is doing its best to drive uptake through sheer noise with a product that might just be kind of bad in a durable way, or at least kind of niche (given how much coding is boilerplate in something besides your native language, sure, maybe the boilerplate generator is a nice thing to have).
Your thoughts reminded me of a good Nicholas Carr essay on good and bad tools that's been rolling around my head of late- on the off chance you haven't read it yet, you might enjoy it: https://www.newcartographies.com/p/the-love-that-lays-the-swale-in-rows
Featured this in today's roundup :) https://allisonstadd.substack.com/p/the-offbeat-112-lead-sheet-leadership
Very cool to come across this, thanks! i recently wrote a post (on taking the long way) wrestling with McLuhan’s augmentation/amputation thing and arrived in a very similar place. The e bike comparison is illuminating.
I have had similar thoughts about GPS navigation. We used to study paper maps and experiment with different routes. Now we just punch in an address and get turn by turn instructions. As a result we never get a sense of geography or learn to find our own way, forever dependent on Google to get us there.
Really well written, some good food for thought.
A couple further thoughts experiments using the analogy. For context, I'm a regular bike enthusiast married to an e-bike rider :)
Effort per Outcome vs Outcome per Effort
I remember reading about a study that had participants ride around a track using bikes and e-bikes for a set period of time tracking their exertion levels. The e-bike participants had the same or higher exertion levels over the same period of time (the theory for the higher exertion being that increased speed for the same exertion was enough of a cognitive reward to push riders to pedal harder). Which is to say there are often multiple ways to look at the same thing. If the goal is to ride from point a to point b, the e-bike will take less effort, but if the goal is to be outside for half an hour the effort will be about the same but you'll go further and see more. Similarly, AI can be used to reduce cognitive effort depending on the goal, but it could theoretically be used to provide more productivity for the same cognitive effort.
Accessibility
I'm not sure how "older" those older ladies were going up the same hill as you, but it's quite possible that they would never have taken the time and effort to top that hill without e-bikes. E-bikes are great for improving accessibility to the active transportation space, but they also come with drawbacks. E-bikes have a lot of a mass (motor + battery) and allow folks who may not be in their physical prime to travel as fast and aggressively as those that are, leading to more accidents. Similarly, folks with less artistic capabilities can use AI to generate art for powerpoints or party invites, which is theoretically making art more accessible, but without the background or thought behind it there are potential consequences too (outside of the ethical dilemma itself).
How disingenuous. An e-bike doesn't get you up the wrong hill by using a logistic regression to climb it.
AI makes you a idiot. An e-bike lets me get my groceries without driving my car.