From "snail mail" to "snail brain"

More than twenty years ago, an English expression caught my attention: snail mail.

As the internet reached people’s homes, I saw email quickly become part of our everyday exchanges. Where we had once waited for a letter, we could now receive a message in seconds. For me, "snail mail" captured that contrast.

A shift that continues

Returning to this idea, I discover how far that transformation has gone in Denmark. PostNord announced the end of its letter business there at the end of 2025 and the removal of its 1,500 public collection boxes. The company reports that letter volumes have fallen by more than 90% since 2000.

Paper mail is not disappearing from the country: other operators continue to deliver it. But seeing a long-established postal operator leave that business makes the change I lived through tangible.

An expression that returns with AI

Thinking alone → Thinking with assistance.

Today, snail mail comes back to me when I think about artificial intelligence.

I notice a change in the way I work. Where I would once have said "let me think about it", I catch myself saying "let me run it by my agent".

I present an idea or a problem. It quickly suggests avenues that I examine, challenge or explore further. The decision remains mine, but that assistance is becoming a regular step in my thinking.

That is where another expression comes to mind: snail brain.

I use it as a thought experiment. If thinking with AI became as natural as sending an email, would we eventually give a special label to thinking without it? Would what had been our reference point suddenly seem slow?

What the comparison might overlook

This parallel also reminds me of what paper mail retains: an object we can hold, handwriting we recognise, a letter we keep.

Human thought, too, has qualities that its speed does not capture. It can mature through experience, doubt and reflection. Slowness does not guarantee depth; a quick response is no better a measure of it.

The expression “snail mail” accompanied the shift to email. Today, “snail brain” brings to mind a similar shift with AI. But the speed of email has not erased the value of a letter. And an assistant’s speed does not capture the value of human thought.