𝐂𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐈𝐐

I just heard Kevin Kelly, the author of What Technology Wants, state on a podcast that “𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝”. In this age of AI and with all the questions it raises about the future of humans, that got me thinking.

Cockroaches have been around for some 300 million years. They outlasted the dinosaurs. They will probably outlast us. And they do not have intelligence to thank for that.

That is Kevin Kelly's uncomfortable point. Evolution never optimized for intelligence. It optimized for what endures. Sharks have barely changed in over 400 million years. Trees dominate the planet with no brain at all. Ant colonies build complex societies with almost no individual smarts. Markets coordinate billions of people with no mastermind.

Intelligence, it turns out, is just one strategy. Expensive, energy-hungry.

Now look at AI.

It does not win by being wise, or by understanding. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬: scale, data, relentless iteration, keep what works, discard what does not. Emergence, not insight. Less a genius, more a 400-million-year process running on fast-forward.

Which is why it is so good at the very things we said mattered more than intelligence: adapting, iterating, surviving contact with reality at scale.

But here is the catch.

Evolutionary success is not the same as 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠. The cockroach is a winner by every survival metric. We still do not want to be one.

Optimization is neutral. It will perfect whatever target it is given (paperclips production included!!): engagement that becomes addiction, efficiency that erodes dignity, growth that hollows out the thing it was meant to serve. The machine does not care what it optimizes. It just optimizes.

That is where only humans can make the difference. Not by providing more horsepower. By providing values. Ends. The definition of what is worth winning.

So as intelligence becomes a utility on tap, don’t fret about whether AI is smarter than you. By classical definitions, it is!

In an AI world, humans flourish not by competing with machine intelligence, but by 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬.

That is the one job you do not want to abdicate to the smartest system in the world.

#AI #MeaningMaker #FutureOfWork #AIStrategy #UniquelyHuman

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bruno.gentil@sherpaconsultingasia.com

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