A thought experiment: if generative AI didn’t exist, what would we miss? And what about the whole digital world?
It’s been three-and-a-half years since ChatGPT was launched.
And it’s been more-or-less half a century since the internet came into existence, depending on who you believe. As The Guardian pointed out in 2009, “it’s impossible to say for certain when the internet began, mainly because nobody can agree on what, precisely, the internet is. (This is only partly a philosophical question: it is also a matter of egos, since several of the people who made key contributions are anxious to claim the credit.)”.
In my memory, the internet became a thing somewhere in the mid 1990s. I was part of a group of trainers moving journalists from one computer system to another, and the module on this new toy called the internet was reserved for Friday afternoons, as a special treat.
And now, here we are in mid-2026, sharing cat videos and taking it for granted that we can talk to pleasant chatbots about our health, get an email rewritten or get help to edit a report we have written.
But what if generative AI had never happened?
Sometimes, it’s useful to do a thought experiment, to explore what would have happened if we had gone down the other leg of the trousers of time, as Terry Pratchett puts it.
I’ve been thinking about this because of something I saw on LinkedIn. Glendon Mellow, whose tagline says he is an illustrator, writer and marketer, posted this thought: “If generative AI platforms & their data centres were erased from the Earth…we’d be fine. They prop up nothing of essential value we can’t do ourselves.”
His tagline also bears this slogan: “Say NO to gen AI”, so it is no surprise that he goes on to say: “If we let them proliferate for a generation, we lose institutional expertise; poison our environment at greater scale; and teach kids that so long as creative theft is monumentally gigantic, it’s okay. The reality is, a lot of hype is built to make you think you need this tech. You don’t.”
At the time of writing this, his post had generated 108 comments, many of which engaged with questions about what Gen AI does or doesn’t offer us.
A comment by AI and tech speaker Anca Platon Trifan was among the more detailed. She pointedout that saying GenAI offers nothing of essential value…
ignores what is already happening in medicine, accessibility, scientific research, language translation, education support, logistics, cybersecurity, and operational workflows across nearly every industry… Electricity, photography, computers, the internet, digital editing, even calculators were all criticized for ‘destroying real skill’ before they became infrastructure. The real issue here is not whether AI exists, it’s more whether or not humans stay actively engaged in judgment, verification, ethics, and original thinking while using it.
And what if we had not gone digital all?
Readers of my blog posts will know that I largely agree with her. But I did like the idea of thinking about what I would miss if GenAI had never happened, and that then turned into list-making (which is not unusual for me). And then I began to think about what I would miss if humanity had not embarked on the whole digital thing at all.
I had a good number of years under my belt before I sent my first email, and an even bigger number of years under my belt before I asked ChatGPT anything. So here are my lists of all the small, ordinary ways in which our lives have changed, which digital offerings are now indispensable, and which I could live without.
What I would miss (or not) if the internet didn’t exist…
- I’d miss the convenience of instant information and recommendations – but I could live without it. The Yellow Pages did an adequate job of finding me a plumber or a mechanic, and friends’ recommendations for places to eat or drink or books to read or movies to see meant that we all had things to talk about. The library had its own pleasures: hunting down particular reference books, reading them and finding the information I needed never felt like a chore. It’s an odd thought, but we don’t actually need to know everything there is to know about a topic, all the time.
- On balance, I’d miss email. To start with, it’s free, and quick. No postage, no courier fees, no need for an expensive fax machine. I have ways of filtering and organising it, so I don’t suffer too much from inbox overwhelm – and I love the access to a wide variety of opinion and thought that email newsletters provide. That said, I do miss getting actual hand-written letters in the post.
- I could say that I’d miss the way one could make friends and connections on the web, and share ideas with people all over the world. But that kind of internet is a thing of the past: no more bulletin boards, no Facebook with posts from my actual friends and family. Twitter as I knew and loved it is dead. If the social aspect of the Internet as it is currently constituted somehow died, I would miss it not at all.
- I do love streaming video and music – but could live without them. Vinyl records and the radio did a good job. And I miss (with all my heart) the friendly local video / CD rental store, where you could wander around and choose from a vast array of movies and series, from the very old to the very new. Then, if I had a yen to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off yet again, I could. Now, in 2026, where would I find it?
- I miss actual printed newspapers, in my hand – all of them, all the time. If the internet didn’t exist, I would still have them.
What would I miss (or not) if smartphones didn’t exist?
- I’d miss the sense of security that an instrument of instant communication brings.
- I’d miss not being able to let people know I’m going to be late for something.
- Groups on WhatsApp are the world’s simplest way to organise meetings and get-togethers. They would be a loss.
- I’d miss maps with spoken directions – they are so useful.
- There are some apps I would miss – most notably a gratitude app, a meditation app and an app in which I can keep a record of books I have read. In all cases, these are things that improve my life rather than intrude on it.
- I would not miss the way my phone demands attention, no matter how many notifications I turn off and apps I delete. (I urge you to to read this: The Phone Is Addicted to You – Alberto Romero)
That’s about it, actually. I deeply miss the comfort of long, cosy telephone calls with people I love, sitting in one place and paying attention. Somehow, we just don’t do that on our smartphones (and when did it become okay to send a text message to wish someone a happy birthday?)
What would I miss (or not) if generative AI didn’t exist?
There are certain AI tools that have become indispensable in my work:
- Meeting note-taker Granola – this one app alone saves hours of time a week.
- Research tool NotebookLM – at the time of writing, I have 149 notebooks for all aspects of my life and work. If this tool were taken from me if and when the AI bubble bursts, I would feel bereft.
- The ability to make my own coach or assistant (Gemini’s Gems, Custom GPTs, Claude Projects + Skills) – I’ve built a number of these, and return to them all the time.
- Frivolously, I’d miss the ability to take a photo of something and then ask questions about it (what is this plant; what’s wrong with this pot plant; what can I make with this ball of wool).
In general, if there GenAI did not exist, I would not miss this new way of doing things, handing work over to something that is not human, and which does not have our best interests at heart. I’d also not miss the fear and anxiety I feel when I think about the long-term effects of all this on people as a whole.
Making this generative AI list has focused my mind on finding ways to keep the functions that I like while decreasing my dependence on tools provided the huge and toxic tech companies. I’ll be exploring ways to use open source tools, building on the work I have already done (read: Gen AI that isn’t big tech – an exploration).
I hand the final words to a poet – bear with me…
In 1807, the English poet William Wordsworth published this poem:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Over two centuries ago, according to Wordsworth, people were disconnected from the natural world, as they went about their daily “getting and spending”. Now, we are disconnected even from that – we spend money that we never see, and have our shopping brought to our homes.
I’ve always been an early tech adopter, and set sail to surf the internet with not a misgiving in my heart. Today, I learn all I can about generative AI and I love, as I always have, the adventure of learning new things.
But I do miss a world in which a computer was something you used to make something (a newspaper, for instance). I miss a time when touching and feeling and talking and creating were the just the way we lived, and not things we did to help us cope with our workloads, or to give us a break from screentime.
I know there’s no putting the genie back in the lamp, but I would be happier if, at this point in history, we chose a leg of the trousers of time that took us back to a place where reality came first and the digital world was kept firmly in its useful place.
Main picture: Gunnar Ridderström, Unsplash
Previous Safe Hands and Sensible Guide articles
How to make a list that lasts – Making lists is one of life’s great pleasures. But when you have to make the same list again and again, not so much. Here’s a trick for that…
A short meditation on libraries – I do love a library. And librarians are among the world’s unsung heroes.
Filter, filter, filter – the key to email organisation – You can use almost any email system to take an incoming email and put it in a place, or a folder, where you can decide when you want to deal with it.
Gen AI that isn’t big tech – an exploration – Large language model, small language model – what’s the difference? A step away from big tech, that’s what.
How to build yourself a virtual coach with AI (for free) – So you know how to use ChatGPT (or Claude, or Gemini). But you’re sure there’s more you could be doing. Here’s how to build yourself a virtual coach with AI (for free).
Is Gen AI making us lazy? And other 3am questions – We’re living through deep changes in the way we interact with technology. If you are worried that Gen AI is making you lazy, here are some ways to approach that…
If any of this is relevant to your work…
You might find one of these useful: