Brainless

 There is a saying that says, "Empty your mind, pick up a pencil and draw" and the purpose of this is tactical in nature in the sense that one must focus on the task at hand and to remove as best one can, all outside distractions (there are many). This also applies to anything a person does that involves their intentional focus, not just drawing, and it is a principle I teach art students. 

Like I said, this rule applies to many things but the spirit behind it involves activity, not passive mindlessness.

• Watching TV
• Doom-scrolling
• Social media
• Gossiping
• excessive phone use

No thinking zone

I was listening to an interview about how devices and A.I. are doing things for us that we used to have to do for ourselves and the man being interviewed said how great it is because it gives him less to think about. But immediately after he said it, I recognized something in that remark didn't quite jibe well with me. 

"It Gives Me Less to Think About"

Isn't thinking what sets humans apart from animals? The greatest works of humankind begins with thinking to solve problems or to be creative. 

• The cure for polio 
• The four minute mile
• The abolition of slavery
• Landing on the moon
• The Sistine Chapel
• The horseless carriage
• The Notre Dame Cathedral
• Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3

It all originated in the human mind as an independent, free thought, an idea originating in the gray matter of the brain and not in an electronic device thinking in our stead. 

"How fortunate for governments 

that the people they administer 

don't think."

                               

                              -Adolf Hitler

The goals of the forces of evil are to get people to empty their minds so the void can be filled with less valuable things. 

"Let the robot do it"

That's why, knowing full well A.I. can do my work for me and probably make it way better, aesthetically speaking, than I will ever be able to do, I insist on only doing it myself. Most of the time I won't even check it using A.I. and it's not because I'm a stubborn, crotchety old man who doesn't like new-fangled gadgets. Maybe I am. But rather It's because I like the way I do it, mistakes and all. How much value would Leonardo's Mona Lisa possess if it was done by Grok?

I've drawn some things and someone would say to me "Let's see what A.I. can do with it!" My immediate response is a decisive "NO". Why would I want to see what a robot can do to my creation?