AI elites might hoard intelligence like mercantilists hoarded gold, argues Venkatesh Rao
The Decoder · rss · 2026-11-03
Engineer Venkatesh Rao compares fears of AI-driven job losses to mercantilism: intelligence is treated as a scarce resource that elites want to control, like gold. He argues this mindset misreads history — just as early capitalism made people voluntarily work more, AI could boost demand for human thinking rather than simply replace it.
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