America didn't spend 250 years building the frontier just to flinch at AI, argues viral essay
robleclerc · x · 2026-09-15
A widely shared essay pushes back on growing AI hesitancy in the US: America spent 250 years going from "what's over there?" to the most powerful civilization by crossing oceans, laying railroads, splitting atoms and turning sand into computers. AI is terrifying — "the frontier is supposed to scare you" — but the answer is neither recklessness nor paralysis. America's comparative advantage is an unusually high tolerance for ambitious weirdos staring at impossible things and saying "I think I can build it." Framed as a pointed rebuttal to AI-slowdown sentiment.
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