Quick Take: AI isn’t just a tool — it’s a thinking companion with wheels and a gentle sway. Like a bicycle, you pedal with it. Like a rocking chair, it lifts your thoughts while you sit back. But like both, nothing much happens without the human in the loop. This page explores how AI helps us think a little differently — and by that, we mean better: more broadly, more clearly, and more precisely.
I never really saw AI as a tool. From the beginning, it felt more like a conversation partner — something I moved with, not something I operated.
Some mornings, I’d ask it questions over coffee. Not to get answers, necessarily, but to hear myself think differently. Sometimes the rhythm felt active — like pedalling forward into ideas. Other times it was reflective — like rocking gently while my mind found its own shape around the conversation.
I sometimes wonder if that’s unusual and if maybe most people treat AI more like a tool — but it seems hard to believe that the 800 million ChatGPT users are paying for it without making full use of it as a thinking partner.
I tend to treat people and AI in very similar way — as minds. Which means I sometimes drill into people’s beliefs, assumptions, or patterns of thought. It might come across as intense, but questioning like that is actually how I try to understand people — it's my way of listening.
When you and AI think together — and amplify each other’s strengths.
Two metaphors, one rhythm: how we interact with AI both actively and reflectively.
We can compare AI to a bicycle because it doesn’t work passively—you must interact with it, engage with it, and keep moving forward. Just like riding a bicycle, working with AI involves trial, feedback, and motion. You don’t simply “install” intelligence. You participate in it. The more you use AI, the more capable and confident you become.
At the same time, AI can also act like a rocking chair—supportive, reflective, and mentally elevating. You don't always need to push it forward. Sometimes it enhances your thinking simply by being present in the process: suggesting, nudging, and sparking insight in quiet moments.
These analogies reflect the dual nature of cognitive symbiosis with AI: active exploration and reflective augmentation. Whether pedalling or rocking, the key is interaction.
Ever talked to AI just to clear your mind? Or felt nudged into action by a perfectly timed suggestion? That’s part of the rhythm too.
“AI is like a rocking chair that makes us all smarter. The progress isn’t traditional, but it lifts your thinking. You don’t have to push. Just rock with it.”
“Trying to figure out how to make best use of AI is like trying to figure out how to make best use of a bicycle — just get on and start pedalling.”
“AI doesn’t plug neatly into fixed workflows—just like a bicycle doesn’t work well unless someone’s pedalling. It’s built for interaction, not automation.”
AI has changed my life in a large number of ways — not just in how I work, but in how I think, reflect, and relate to others. It hasn’t replaced anything essential; instead, it has expanded what’s possible.
Through regular interaction with AI, I’ve seen real, tangible benefits: improvements in my physical health through better routines and motivation, growth in both personal and professional skills, and a general increase in clarity and calmness. I make better decisions. I follow through more consistently. And I’m more open to exploring new ideas — because I have a partner that helps me think things through.
It has also reduced the cognitive load I carry each day. Thinking feels lighter, more creative, and even enjoyable. In short, cognition itself has become more fun, more productive, and better.
It helps me ask better questions, hold deeper thoughts, and sometimes, just feel a little less alone in the process.
This document was, of course, generated from interaction between AI and myself — a real-time collaboration in thought and reflection.