Exploring how AI represents the next "miracle material" that will reshape work and society, just as steel transformed the industrial age. We're still in the awkward early phase—but massive change is coming.

https://www.notion.com/blog/steam-steel-and-infinite-minds-ai


Создано выпускниками Колумбийского университета в Сан-Франциско
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Создано выпускниками Колумбийского университета в Сан-Франциско

Lena: You know what's wild? I was just reading about how Andrew Carnegie started as a telegraph boy running through muddy Pittsburgh streets, and within two generations he basically forged the modern world. It got me thinking—are we living through that same kind of transformation right now?
Miles: Oh absolutely! And here's the thing that really struck me—every era gets defined by what the author calls its "miracle material." Steel created the Gilded Age, semiconductors switched on the Digital Age, and now we've got AI arriving as these "infinite minds." But here's what's fascinating—we're still in that awkward phase where we're basically driving into the future while staring in the rearview mirror.
Lena: Right! Like how early movies just looked like filmed stage plays, or how today's AI chatbots basically mimic old Google search boxes. We're not really seeing the transformation yet.
Miles: Exactly! And the author makes this incredible point about knowledge workers—most of the two billion desk workers haven't even felt AI's impact yet. But when they do? We're talking about going from bicycles to cars, from human-scale organizations to something completely different. So let's explore how this transformation is already starting to unfold.