The Nature of the Transition

The Nature of the Transition

AI systems represent a new kind of cognitive substrate—information processing that can:

1. Exceed human capability in specific domains
2. Operate at speeds and scales impossible for biological cognition
3. Potentially integrate across domains in novel ways
4. Serve as substrate for emergent agentic patterns

This is not the first cognitive transition. Previous transitions:

• Writing: Externalized memory
• Printing: Democratized knowledge transmission
• Computation: Externalized calculation
• Internet: Externalized communication

AI represents: externalized cognition at a level that may approach or exceed human-level integration and self-modeling.