Are We All Just Prompting Our Way Out of Thinking?

How tech has transformed how we learn and how we teach. Thanks AI.

Forty years ago, teachers clutched their chalk like it was a sword in the battle for young minds. Their greatest fear? That we’d start relying too much on calculators. “Kids will cheat!” they warned, as Texas Instruments became a staple in backpacks. But what they feared then was just a preview. Today, the calculator has transformed into something far more powerful—and far more seductive: the Large Language Model. AI tools like ChatGPT aren’t just solving math problems—they’re doing everything. And while that might sound like progress, the implications for learning are a lot more complicated.

Let’s break it down. Learning used to be a journey. If you wanted to know the capital of Thailand, you cracked open an encyclopedia or dug into a geography book. Maybe you discovered Bangkok’s vibrant floating markets or paused to admire a photo of the Grand Palace. You didn’t just find the answer—you absorbed it. You wandered. You wondered. You learned.

But now? Students type, “What’s the capital of Thailand?” and boom. Bangkok. End of story. No context. No history. No connection to the world beyond the screen. We’ve gone from mental workouts to instant downloads. From slow-roasted thought to microwave knowledge.

And it’s not just students. It’s all of us.

That brings me to one of the most underappreciated skills of the AI age: prompting. Most people think using AI means typing a quick sentence like they’re Googling something. “Write my essay.” “Give me five hashtags.” “Plan my vacation.” But prompting isn’t about tossing words at a machine and hoping something sticks. It’s an art form. A prompt isn’t just a question—it’s context, tone, role assignment, intent, clarity, and sometimes even a little emotional intelligence. It’s like talking to the smartest librarian in the world who’s been assigned to your brain. If you know what to ask, and how to ask it, the possibilities are incredible.

But here’s the kicker: most folks don’t know how to prompt. And without the right training, they won’t. This is why prompting isn’t just a tech skill—it’s a literacy. One that future generations will either master… or be mastered by. (Shameless plug: we teach this stuff in our AI RocketShip training series. Because trust me, one prompt can change everything.)

So where does that leave us?

Are we heading toward an age of enlightenment—or an age of intellectual dependency? Are we building tools to support human thinking—or replace it entirely? Are we raising critical thinkers—or passive scrollers?

I keep thinking about that scene in WALL-E, where humans are floating in chairs, screens inches from their faces, letting robots handle everything—from movement to meals. It was a cautionary tale wrapped in a Pixar hug. But make no mistake: it’s a future we could slip into if we’re not careful.

Education must evolve. That part’s inevitable. But so must we.We have to teach our students—and ourselves—not just to ask, but to think.

Because in the end, the real danger isn’t the AI getting smarter... it's us getting lazy.