EPISODE · Jun 20, 2026 · 10 MIN
I'm Becoming a Progress Junkie (and AI is the Dealer)
from Machine Learning Tech Brief By HackerNoon · host HackerNoon
This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/im-becoming-a-progress-junkie-and-ai-is-the-dealer. AI makes you feel 20% faster. Research says you're 19% slower. Inside the progress-junkie loop and why pacing matters more than output. Check more stories related to machine-learning at: https://hackernoon.com/c/machine-learning. You can also check exclusive content about #vibe-coding, #ai-pair-programming, #ai-efficiency, #progress-junkie, #ai-harmful-effects, #metr, #cognitive-offloading, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @aschwabe. Learn more about this writer by checking @aschwabe's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. A randomized trial says AI may make experienced devs slower while they feel faster — and the gap may be narrowing as tools improve, but the perception/reality bias is still real. A survey of 319 knowledge workers says AI shifts thinking from synthesis to stewardship; a separate 666-person study found a strong negative correlation between AI use and critical thinking. The new HBR/BCG "AI brain fry" study put hard numbers on the agent-supervision burnout pattern. The neuroscience offers one plausible mechanism for why the FEELING is so misleading — though that part of the story is more contested than pop-neuroscience would have you believe.
What this episode covers
This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/im-becoming-a-progress-junkie-and-ai-is-the-dealer. AI makes you feel 20% faster. Research says you're 19% slower. Inside the progress-junkie loop and why pacing matters more than output. Check more stories related to machine-learning at: https://hackernoon.com/c/machine-learning. You can also check exclusive content about #vibe-coding, #ai-pair-programming, #ai-efficiency, #progress-junkie, #ai-harmful-effects, #metr, #cognitive-offloading, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @aschwabe. Learn more about this writer by checking @aschwabe's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. A randomized trial says AI may make experienced devs slower while they feel faster — and the gap may be narrowing as tools improve, but the perception/reality bias is still real. A survey of 319 knowledge workers says AI shifts thinking from synthesis to stewardship; a separate 666-person study found a strong negative correlation between AI use and critical thinking. The new HBR/BCG "AI brain fry" study put hard numbers on the agent-supervision burnout pattern. The neuroscience offers one plausible mechanism for why the FEELING is so misleading — though that part of the story is more contested than pop-neuroscience would have you believe.
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I'm Becoming a Progress Junkie (and AI is the Dealer)
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