"Technology is always and everywhere a tool, not an autonomous agent.
It requires humans to operate, which they will do in order to satisfy human desires."
When we say "technology" saves labor, what we really mean is it leverages labor.
It gives to labor powers that were previously impossible, inconceivable even.
Only in the aftermath of witnessing its novel capabilities do we articulate that a car gives
to a man the literal physical power of 200 horses.
We do not start by imagining squishing 200 horses into a metal box."
~ Allen Farrington
What if AI isn’t replacing us—but multiplying us? In this read and my take, we dig into the fear of job-killing machines, from the steam engine to LLMs, and why every “this time is different” panic always misses the point. Is AI just the next bicycle for the mind—or something even bigger?
Check out the original article Vibe Capital Accumulating by Allen Farrington (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2h555x39)
Mentions & Resources from the Episode
- Bitcoin is Venice: Essays on the Past and Future of Capitalism Audiobook (Link: https://tinyurl.com/mruuspj5)
- Read_901 - 6 Weeks of Claude Code on Fountain (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/ZZdBRuVw3FvpTb3YmXLO)
- Margaret Jacob’s Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West (https://a.co/d/ahpm1B1)
- Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West by Margaret C. Jacob (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3sj8x5mt)
- The 1982 British TV documentary on Japanese robots (Link: https://youtu.be/LMuI1-2SlGk)
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