Systems Thinking

Preface I am approaching the AI debate from a different perspective than is typical in current discussions: that of systems thinking. I believe this model, which focuses on stocks, flows, and feedback loops, offers a valuable complementary lens for understanding AI’s integration into our world. I want to be clear that this analysis does not dismiss the core technical alignment problem. A common and powerful argument is that a sufficiently advanced superintelligence could solve for political and social friction as easily as it solves for protein folding. In that view, the ‘systemic’ barriers I discuss are not fundamental. This essay explores an alternative hypothesis: that these human-system barriers are of a different kind and represent a more immediate and persistent bottleneck than pure intelligence scaling. My aim is to analyze the current trajectory of AI within our existing socio-technical systems and to identify leverage points for intervention that are available to us now. ...

Preface I am approaching the AI debate from a different perspective than is typical in current discussions: that of systems thinking. I believe this model, which focuses on stocks, flows, and feedback loops, offers a valuable complementary lens for understanding AI’s integration into our world. I want to be clear that this analysis does not dismiss the core technical alignment problem. A common and powerful argument is that a sufficiently advanced superintelligence could solve for political and social friction as easily as it solves for protein folding. In that view, the ‘systemic’ barriers I discuss are not fundamental. This essay explores an alternative hypothesis: that these human-system barriers are of a different kind and represent a more immediate and persistent bottleneck than pure intelligence scaling. My aim is to analyze the current trajectory of AI within our existing socio-technical systems and to identify leverage points for intervention that are available to us now. ...