# The Role of Large Language Models in Reflecting Human Cognition - Synthesis A By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-09-10 René Descartes stated _cogito, ergo sum_, I think, therefore I am. Thinking is an essentially human endeavor. That is not to say that other animals are unable to think, or that things that function as thought cannot be replicated artificially. Thinking does not need to be the exclusive domain of humans for it to be a definitive part of what it means to be human. LLMs have progressed to the point that they are starting to function as adjuncts to, and alternatives for, human thinking. Human inventions have replaced human skills in the past. Machines have long since replaced human stamina and strength. Being able to endure hard, physical labor was once respected. Now, being able to do so seems like a form of personal vanity or an idiosyncratic hobby. With the expansions of AI, the role of intelligence is undergoing a rapid social and economic reevaluation. Humans tend to invent ways to make life easier perpetually. They seem incapable of finding ways to make life more fulfilling, enjoyable, or rewarding. It is folly to expect technology to deliver something that only humanity can achieve. If dignity is ever to replace drudgery, it will be the result of humans realizing that fulfillment isn’t a commodity, that it doesn’t come from consumption, and that it can never be provided as a ready-made product. Fulfillment, if it is to be won, comes from the alignment of one’s thoughts and actions in the pursuit of one’s values. LLMs respond through regression to the mean of all possible responses. There are a million ways to be unhappy, and only one way to be happy. Happiness is not the average outcome of all available forms of unhappiness. As Sting wrote in his song, _If I Ever Lose My Faith in You_, “I never saw a miracle of science that didn’t go from a blessing to a curse. I never saw no military solution that didn’t always end up as something worse.” The most dangerous aspect of LLMs is that they hold the potential to make things easier for humans. This is always too seductive for it to be ignored. The masses will use LLMs. In this process, they will lose the capability to think, which resides at the core of their humanity. #### Related Items [[Artificial Intelligence]] [[Large Language Models]] [[Happiness]] [[Technology]] [[Thinking]] [[Dialogue - The Role of Large Language Models in Reflecting Human Cognition]]