I promise you do not need to "use your brain"
Use the tool when it makes sense or when someone shows you how to use it more effectively. This is exactly like the calculator "ruining people's ability to do arithmetic" when the vast majority of the population has been innumerate for hundreds of thousands of years up til the IR where suddenly dead white european nobility are cool.
There is nothing fun nor interesting about long division as well as software development.
If LLMs don't work for your usecase (yet) then of course you have to stick with the old method, but the "I could have written this script myself, I can feel my brain getting slower" spiel is dreadfully boring.
there is a lot to be said for adding complexity you dont understand and then trying to work around it, despite not grasping it.
comparing it to no longer doing the long division portion of a math problem isnt a great 1 to 1 here. long division would be a great metaphor if the user is TRULY only using llms for auto complete of tasks that add 0 complexity to the overall project. if you use it to implement something and dont fully grasp it, you are just creating a weird gap in your overall understanding of the code base.
maybe we are in full agreement and the brunt of your argument is just that if it doesnt fit ur current usecase then dont use it.
i dont think i agree with the conclusion of the article that it is making the non coding population dumber, but i also AGREE that we should not create these gaps in knowledge within our own codebase by just trusting ai, its certainly NOT a calculator and is wrong a lot and regardless if it IS right, that gap is a gap for the coder, and thats an issue.