Last night I facilitated a conversation between a Senior Product Manager on Microsoft’s strategic product development strike team, an MIT PhD who is building the future of space telescopes, and an expert somatic therapist and relationship coach. The theme was the future of the human condition as it pertains to work, AI, and our connection to ourselves.
A question that continues to fascinate me from that discussion is: “In a post-intelligence world (where the cost of information is ~$0), what should young builders optimize for?”
The Disappearance of “Smart” as a Differentiator
For most of history, intelligence has been the bottleneck. The rare ability to analyze, compute, or strategize faster than others translated into power, wealth, and status. But if intelligence is now effectively free – if every answer, draft, and strategy can be conjured instantly -then being “smart” no longer buys you advantage.
The game shifts. The question becomes: what remains scarce?
What Becomes Scarce When Intelligence Is Free
- Directionality. If anyone can build anything, what matters is choosing the right problems. The leverage comes from discernment, not effort.
- Trust. Infinite output means infinite noise. People won’t just buy what you make; they’ll buy your word and your reliability.
- Taste. Intelligence can generate endless options, but judgment about what is beautiful, useful, or true still comes from cultivated human sensibility.
- Embodiment. AI can simulate thought, but it cannot live a life. The ability to execute in the messy, embodied world—relationships, logistics, responsibility—is irreplaceable.
- Coordination. The hardest problems are collective ones. Getting people, capital, and institutions aligned is still the domain of human leadership.
The New Optimization Targets for Builders
Young builders should optimize for what intelligence alone cannot supply:
- Problem selection. Develop the discipline to chase non-derivative problems where real constraints exist—energy, trust, regulation, embodied experience.
- Distribution. Own channels, communities, and audiences that compound. Attention becomes the scarce currency in a world of infinite content.
- Unique inputs. Proprietary data, lived experiences, cultural insights, and human relationships that no model can scrape.
- Reliability and integrity. Make promises and keep them. Reliability is rarer than brilliance when brilliance is abundant.
- Moral courage. Take responsibility for consequences. In an age of outsourced intelligence, accountability becomes the ultimate differentiator.
The Human Condition in the Age of AI
When intelligence is free, the most valuable builders will be those who optimize for being human in public. For showing taste, integrity, and reliability in ways that others can trust. For cultivating deep relationships and for bearing responsibility where machines cannot.
Young builders should optimize not for being the smartest person in the room, but for being the one whose presence makes the room trustworthy, oriented, and alive.
Because in a post-intelligence world, it isn’t “what you know” that counts. It’s what you choose, what you embody, and what you’re willing to stand behind.