The easy way may not always be the best. As we all offload more responsibilities and so-called "mindless" tasks to Siri, Google Home, Alexa, or any other AI-powered feat of modern technology, it's seems like a no-brainer to let tech do all the stuff we have decided that we no longer have time to do.
But is it? When technology extends us, it also limits us. The hammer allows us to pound nails and build things; it also transforms our arm into a device that can no longer brush our daughter's hair.
We must get rid of that tech before we can do other things. Thankfully with a hammer, it's easy to put down.
What about computer software that helps us think less? Memorize less? And remember less? In the same way the excavator can dig many more ditches than a man; it also weakens the muscles of the construction worker.
Does the same happen with a weakening of brain "muscles"? The strength of our hippocampus or the speed of data transfer in our brains surely must suffer as a result.
For any technology, we should be examining not only what we gain and how it makes things easier for us, but also what we lose and how it will neuter what we do.
The two things seem to walk hand in hand in every facet of life and history.
The vision of having computers perform like people has almost come to pass, and it's taken only a generation to transform human conduct into the script-driven behavior of computers completely. We shape technology, and it shapes us accordingly.