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The Prosthetic God. AI image Introduction A few days ago, I encountered a social-media remark that caught my attention: “I don’t interact with anyone who uses AI in writing or encourages its use. To me, using it means you’re not a real writer. If you disagree, please move on.” At first glance, such a statement reads like exaggeration, the product of rigid attitudes or personal frustration. Yet beneath the harsh tone lies a tension many people feel today: uneasiness when abilities honed through persistence collide with tools capable of producing comparable outcomes. What fuels this intensity? Why do otherwise open-minded individuals react so defensively when confronted with algorithmic creativity? A century ago, Sigmund Freud offered a striking image that helps illuminate this response: the human being as a “prosthetic god.” His phrase, drawn from  Civilization and Its Discontents , offers a lens through which current anxieties surrounding intelligent tools come into focus. ...