Wharton scholar asks: what are institutions for in an age of AGI?
danielrock · x · 2026-11-10
Claudine Gartenberg (Wharton) published an essay on Substack (Orgs & Borgs) on how AGI may stress institutions, especially scientific ones.
- Institutions exist to enable mass cooperation under twin challenges: dispersed knowledge (Hayek 1945, needing mechanisms like markets) and conflicting interests (Adam Smith's problem of aligning self-interest with the collective good)
- How AGI changes these challenges is one of the most pressing social science questions of our time. Of three sources, human cognitive limits may be largely overcome by AGI — but real-world uncertainty and fundamental value disagreements that can't be bargained away remain hard
- Institutions were designed for humans' particular strengths and foibles; AI's differ, so institutions must evolve deliberately rather than react after the shock
Shared by economist Daniel Rock.
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