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This post is a general but forward-looking atomic essay on how not to get replaced by AI. We cover two key ideas: become an expert in a narrow domain, while at the same time learn to see the bigger picture and how your niche relates to it.
If this topic is avoided and action not taken, it won't be a matter of if it will happen, but when. The rate at which AI and robotics is advancing continues to accelerate. Soon, the domain of things AI is capable in will expand to every area of the economy. Businesses will make the simple economic decision to pay an AI a fraction of what they'd pay a real person to do the same task. There will be automation like we've never seen before.
We need to understand that our roles are shifting and the kind & quality of our work must change too.
As we're building Ouro, this topic is something we're thinking about a lot. Our mission is human prosperity and sovereignty; not movement in the opposite direction. Even with this in mind, we're aware how delicate of a line this is to walk. Even with good intentions, bad things can still happen.
With this post, I hope to make the distinction between an optimistic and pessimistic AI future clear, and to help readers take a step towards more human prosperity and a future aided by AI, not replaced by it.
The recommendation is simple. It's a two-part approach combining the ideas of Iain McGilchrist and Dan Koe.
Use your left-brain thinking to focus on becoming highly skilled in a specific area that interests you.
Use right-brain thinking to cultivate vision and agency, and learn to see the bigger picture.
Though these two ideas are developments of mind and consciousness, the can be treated just like muscles where through exercise and training you can strengthen them.
In the next sections, let's see if we can understand each idea better and come to an understanding as to why these aspects should be important in a future where AI is becoming increasingly capable.
Developing domain expertise fits within the left-hemisphere thinking of McGilchrist's model because of its emphasis on detail, differentiation, and logic.
Developing deep domain expertise means immersing oneself in a specific field, gaining in-depth understanding and specialized knowledge that AI may struggle to replicate.
By focusing on the intricacies and subtleties of a particular domain, you position yourself as irreplaceable. While AI can process vast amounts of information, it lacks the intuitive grasp of context and the nuanced decision-making abilities that come from thorough human understanding and experience.
Let's approach this idea from first-principles: AIs use billions of parameters to represent everything they know about the world. This requires a lot of compression to be able to fit a world model into relatively few parameters. This is the cause of hallucination. Humans don't have the same problem. We can choose to specialize in something and let it fill up as much of our mind as we allow.
The other point to make about the human advantage over AI is experience and intuition. As you work within a domain, you develop an intuition through experience that cannot be replicated, no matter how many papers you read or videos of the process you watch.
Direct experience is a significant advantage we have over our silicon counterparts.
As I'm writing this, I can imagine how AI will eventually be able to develop domain expertise too. As simulation tech gets better, AI will be able to run experiments and learn powerful intuitions on their own. This is further down the road, but it's not unrealistically achievable. There is still going to be the question of which experiments to run. This leads us into our next section where we'll look at the right-brain aspect of this idea.
If you've ever come across some of the new-age manifestation teachings, there's often an emphasis on visualizing the future you want in your mind and seeing it as already part of your reality.
We can find similar guidance in the Bible:
Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."
I understand "believe that you have received them" to be pointing at the same idea; that you can visualize a desired future state so well it becomes real.
I use these examples because I think they're both representations of the skill we need to develop to avoid a future where we find ourselves replaced by AI.
It's developing a vision and taking the steps to manifest the vision.
Visualize = Vision
It's a little harder to recommend what steps to take to develop vision. For domain expertise, it's easy to recommend things like reading the literature, following leading experts, experimenting & building things yourself. The actions you take are external and therefore easy to understand and recommend.
The development of vision, agency, and willpower are more internal changes, so the recommendations I have are more esoteric.
It comes down to understanding what you want, what your organization wants, etc. and creating a plan to drive things in that direction. Self-reflection and mindfulness are good ways to find a better grasp on these things.
Don't wait for someone to tell you what to do, because one day that person will tell an AI what to do instead.
You need to become high-agency. High-agency people are those who understand the mission and can direct the people, processes, and patterns around them to accomplish that mission.
In other words, it's developing delegation skills.
AI is almost guaranteed to be able to DO most things better than us. But it won't know WHAT to do. Directing AI will become part of nearly everyone's role in the workplace.
The best way to start developing these skills is by practicing them. If you're not already using AI tools regularly, now is a good time to start. Learn what works and what doesn't. Learn to express yourself through language so that an AI can help manifest what's already been imagined.
Remember that our uniquely human qualities remain our greatest assets. By cultivating deep domain expertise and developing our capacity for vision, agency, and willpower, we position ourselves not as competitors to AI, but as its directors and collaborators.
The future belongs not to those who fear being replaced by AI, but to those who learn to harness its power while amplifying their own irreplaceable human attributes. By embracing this dual approach of left-brain specialization and right-brain vision, we can create a future where AI enhances rather than replaces human potential, leading to greater prosperity and innovation for all.
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