Reshaping Perception Through Technology: From Ancient Script to Large Language Models

Abstract

As large language models reshape how we create and access information, questions arise about how to frame their role in human creative and cognitive life. We argue that AI is best understood not as artificial intelligence but as a new medium -- one that, like writing before it, reshapes perception and enables novel forms of creativity. Drawing on Marshall McLuhan's insight that "the medium is the massage," we trace a lineage of technologies -- from DNA and the nervous system to symbols, writing, and now LLMs -- that mold cognition through a shared logic of flexible unfolding and co-creation. We observe that as technologies become more externalized and decoupled from physiology, they introduce both greater creative potential and greater risk of inauthenticity and manipulation. This tension is acute with LLMs, but not unprecedented: ancient responses to writing reveal a recurring human tendency to project intelligence onto powerful new media. Rather than viewing AI as a competitor, we propose framing it as a medium that foregrounds artistic skills: aesthetic judgment, curation, and the articulation of vision. We discuss implications for education, creative practice, and how society might adapt to this new medium as it did to writing.