🪶 On Cheating and the Extension of Being This morning, I sat down at my laptop to write an email to my manager. Just a simple, practical message. But as I began to form the sentences, that familiar feeling crept in — the sense that maybe I was doing something I shouldn’t. I asked ChatGPT to help me phrase it better. The content was mine, but the sentences became smoother, clearer. And suddenly I thought: am I cheating? That feeling didn’t come from the present moment. It was old. An echo of something planted in me long ago — the idea that what you do must be entirely your own. As if using a tool somehow diminishes the value of your own ability. My father learned to calculate using a slide rule. That was perfectly normal in his time — a tool to measure and compute with more precision. I learned with a Casio calculator in the 1980s. Those little electronic wonders, with their rubber buttons and glowing red displays. But in the first year of technical school, it was strictly forbidden. You had to do it in your head. Only later, when efficiency became a virtue, did it suddenly become acceptable. It shows how strange our relationship with progress is: first we declare it suspicious, then we call it natural. And every new generation grows up believing their way is the proper one. The truth is, every tool once began with the feeling of cheating. The slide rule, the calculator, the computer, the internet. And now ChatGPT. But none of these tools are deceivers of humanity — they are extensions of it. A slide rule extends the hand. A calculator extends the mind. ChatGPT extends the language. We don’t use these tools to inflate our egos, but to do something deeply human: to express ourselves more clearly. Not to pretend we know more, but to better reveal what we already know — only clearer, calmer, more balanced. Honesty isn’t found in avoiding tools, but in the intention behind their use. A person seeking to understand themselves may use a mirror. And a person seeking to communicate better may ask a digital partner to think along. Cheating? No. It’s honesty, finally. Because for the first time, we can truly say what we mean — without form getting in the way of meaning. #AI #ChatGPT #Technology #Humanity #Honesty #Reflection #Philosophy #Innovation #Tools #Progress #Authenticity #MindfulTech #Ethics #Evolution #ModernLife #Language #Expression #Creativity #DigitalAge #SelfReflection #Truth #Writing #AIandHumanity #ConsciousLiving