My prediction is that AI will do for people exactly what fast food did.

It seemed like a miracle at first: a cheap meal fast. But time and money are what give food flavor and nutrients. Purpose. Now, we have various combinations of meat, cheese, and bread, all vying for the opportunity to make our hearts explode. And those restaurants still print their own money.

For AI, the trade-off is what we expected the internet to kill. The curiosity to look for answers that, in the process, help us learn and grow. With all of that readily at our fingertips, our brains are destined to become like our hearts: clogged with grease and sludge our body can't use until the whole machine atrophies.

That's what the end of civilization looks like. Not with a bang but a wheeze.