Deskilling the body

The article describes a phenomenon called deskilling, where humans gradually lose physical and cognitive abilities due to over-reliance on digital tools. For example, the author, a woman in her late 40s, notes how her daily routines have shifted from writing by hand and spending hours outdoors to passively scrolling on her phone and working indoors. This deskilling affects fundamental human capacities such as sensing, navigating, remembering, walking, choosing, and attending. The reliance on technologies like GPS, smartphones, and AI reduces the need for these skills, leading to their gradual weakening. The article highlights that this trend is not isolated but widespread, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the shift toward digital interactions and reduced physical activities.

The article traces the historical roots of the idea that humans are like machines, a concept that dates back to philosopher René Descartes in the 17th century. Descartes described the body as a machine governed by physical laws, while the mind was seen as separate and uniquely human. By the mid-20th century, this metaphor evolved with the rise of cybernetics, a field led by figures like Norbert Wiener, who envisioned humans and machines exchanging information seamlessly. This perspective treated humans as patterns of information that could be upgraded or even transferred to machines, reducing the body to mere hardware. Transhumanist thinkers later extended this idea, imagining technologies that could replace or transcend the physical body, including the brain.

The article argues that life is fundamentally different from machines because living organisms are autopoietic, meaning they work to maintain and remake themselves, unlike machines, which are allopoietic (they produce things other than themselves). This self-maintenance requires energy and physical adaptation to the environment. For example, the body resists disintegrating into its surroundings by constantly regulating its internal state. This process involves physical changes, such as the osmoreceptor neurons in the hypothalamus shrinking when dehydrated, triggering a chain reaction that leads to the sensation of thirst and the action of drinking. These embodied processes are the foundation of intelligence and agency.

While the body’s ability to adapt is a strength, harmful environments can train it to lose essential skills. For instance, studies show that just one week of leg immobilization can reduce thigh-muscle volume by about 5%, and after 15 days of non-use, the firing behavior of muscle-controlling cells diminishes. Similarly, relying on GPS for navigation weakens spatial memory. A longitudinal study of 13 GPS users over three years found that their hippocampal-mediated spatial memory declined more steeply than in control groups who navigated without GPS. This suggests that when we outsource tasks like wayfinding or writing to external tools, our innate abilities atrophy over time.

The article emphasizes that skills like writing and speaking are embodied acts, meaning they rely on physical movements and sensory feedback. For example, learning to speak involves repeated cycles of uttering words, listening, and self-correcting, which engages multiple regions of the body. When AI tools like ChatGPT are used to generate text instead of assisting in revision, they diminish the user’s confidence and ability to perform the task unaided. A study found that passively copying AI-generated writing reduced an individual’s confidence in performing the task independently. This highlights that physical effort and repetition are essential for developing and maintaining embodied skills.

The article describes how physical movement, such as walking outdoors, can restore cognitive and emotional balance. For example, the author notes that after a day spent indoors, stepping outside and walking uphill helps release mental tension, as physical activity increases heart rate, circulates nutrients and oxygen to the brain, and engages muscles to clear sugars and fats from the bloodstream. Movement also enhances sensory integration, balance, and prediction of environmental changes. These physical actions are linked to improved thinking, creativity, and emotional well-being, demonstrating the deep connection between bodily activity and mental processes.