AI and Intellectual Equality (1): Basic Skills Flatten, Capability Gaps Widen
TL;DR AI is flattening basic skills: the barriers to programming, writing, and translation are approaching zero. Yet the same force is creating a deeper divide. When what you can do is no longer scarce, what you can judge becomes the true dividing line. This is not equality first and polarization later, but two sides of the same coin appearing at once. A junior programmer, only three months into the job, uses AI to write code and completes in one week a feature that once took a month. The code runs, the logic is coherent, and the project manager is pleased. Their output is almost indistinguishable from that of a colleague with three years of experience. ...