In Episode A046 of Authbition, I recorded from the quiet engineering quad at NC State University during a Saturday morning bike ride on Mother’s Day weekend.
This episode started as a test of a new microphone system. It became a reflection on listener feedback, the future of Authbition, and why I’m returning to one of the original roots of the show: reading my own essays out loud.
The essay I share in this episode is called “The Biggest Criminal of Your Mind Is in Your Pocket.” It’s about cognitive offloading, GPS, smartphones, AI, memory, brain health, and the slow erosion of skills we may not realize we’re losing until they’re gone.
👉 Listen or watch here:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple | Amazon
I didn’t plan to record this episode from NC State.
I was out on a longer bike ride and thought I might stop somewhere in nature, maybe out near Umstead Park. But when I rode through Centennial Campus, the engineering quad was completely quiet.
No students. No crowd. No noise.
Just a beautiful spring morning, graduation weekend, Mother’s Day weekend, and a place where I once spent 12 years of my life as a professor.
So I stopped.
I sat down.
I tested the mic.
And I recorded the opening to this episode.
I’ve been getting helpful feedback from listeners lately. Three pieces have stayed with me:
This episode responds to the first two. The third will come when the time is right. I’m not interested in simply turning on ads. Authbition is not just a podcast to me. It’s becoming a movement, a brand, and eventually a team.
This episode is a little different.
There’s no guest. There’s no Whole Mind Game. There’s no two-hour conversation.
Instead, I take listeners behind the scenes of how one of my essays came to life.
The week before recording, Abby and I were camping in our Airstream near George Washington National Forest. I woke up early, as I often do in the woods, and wrote an essay about cognitive offloading.
The subject is serious.
The tone is a little sharp.
I wanted it to be funny, but I also worried it might come across as judgmental. That’s not who I want to be. I practice nonjudgment, but that doesn’t mean I always get it right.
So before submitting the essay, I read it out loud to Abby and asked her whether I should hit submit.
Her answer gave me the confidence to “Hit the submit button.” Later that day, it was accepted into Ai-Ai-OH and published.
“The Biggest Criminal of Your Mind Is in Your Pocket” begins with a memory from 1991, when Stevens Tech replaced mechanical drawing with computer-aided design.
At the time, I was angry.
I didn’t want school to teach me software. I wanted to learn the underlying skill. I wanted to learn how to draw, visualize, and think mechanically before handing that work to a machine.
Decades later, I see that moment differently.
It wasn’t just about CAD.
It was an early experience of cognitive offloading.
The essay moves from CAD to calculators, GPS, smartphones, and AI. The question is not whether these tools are useful. They are.
The question is whether we’re using them after building the human capability, or before our brains ever get the chance to grow.
That distinction matters.
A tool can scale a skill.
But if the tool replaces the skill before the skill exists, something human may be lost.
The tension in this episode is not technology versus no technology.
That’s too easy.
The real tension is:
Useful Technology <> Human Capability
I don’t want to reject modern tools. I use them every day. I’m using them to build Authbition. I used technology to record this episode from a bike ride.
But I also don’t want to surrender my mind to convenience.
GPS can help me get somewhere faster. It can also keep me from building the map in my mind. Calculators can save time. They can also keep me from practicing number sense.
AI can support creativity.
It can also become a substitute for struggle, memory, discernment, and original thought.
The best of the best is not rejecting technology.
The best of the best is using powerful tools without giving away the mind that makes those tools meaningful.
This episode is about more than phones.
It’s about the hidden cost of convenience.
The body still needs movement.
The mind still needs friction.
Memory still needs use.
Creativity still needs practice.
Navigation still needs attention.
I can see when my body gets weaker. I can look in the mirror and notice my belly, my arms, my posture, my stiffness.
The brain is different. I don’t see cognitive atrophy in the mirror. That makes it easier to ignore. So I’m trying to practice while I still can.
Turn off GPS sometimes.
Calculate the tip in my head.
Remember a phone number.
Draw by hand.
Play guitar.
Walk without a plan.
Get lost in the woods.
Not because technology is bad.
Because my brain is worth training.
This episode also includes a small Mother’s Day reflection.
I lost my mom six years ago. I miss her. And I’ve also been lucky to have many women in my life who offered motherly care in different ways — feeding me, welcoming me, guiding me, and making room for me at the table.
So happy Mother’s Day to mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, surrogate mothers, dog and cat mothers, motherly figures, and Mother Nature herself.
Thank you for listening, reading, watching, and offering feedback.
I want Authbition to become something meaningful. Not just a show. Not just a game. Something that can do real good in the world.