The more I read these think-pieces on AI the clearer it is to see that they have very little to do with LLM technology, and are really just talking about the collapse of the set of values constructed during the enlightenment. The sociocognitive atrophy that you describe is inherent to the idea that newness and progress are the ultimate goal that we should organize society around. The problem is that newness and progress can only be defined relative to a status-quo, and hence are incoherent goals in themselves. When pursued far enough, they become their own strange, monstrous status-quo that betrays the original intentions of the people who pursued these values. Hence "we mistake the flattening for progress". This was the case before AI, it's just that AI makes it much harder to ignore, and in many ways encapsulates the problem.

The point w/ electronic calculators is the same point made by Plato regarding books. It used to be easy to laugh off these concerns, not so much today. Imo, this is the real progress: people are now asking meaty questions regarding the ultimate human purpose of books, calculators and technology.