I read two pieces today that somehow connect: token anxiety and cognitive debt. I enjoyed reading the following paragraph:
I replaced Netflix with Claude Code. I lie in bed thinking about what I can spin up before I fall asleep, what can run while I’m unconscious. Reading a novel feels indulgent now. Watching a movie without a laptop open feels wasteful. This voice in my head that says “something could be running right now” just doesn’t shut off. I’m not even building a company. I’m just addicted to building my random ideas.
As tokens becoming less expensive ($1 an hour for the new MiniMax 2.5), I think it is more and more addictive and cognitive debt will become widespread — not only on code, but also on research papers as they are more and more written by AI.