The Uniqueness Economy: Why Clones are Worthless and Difference is Everything
People Are Valuable Because They Are Different
A recent discussion delved into the profound connection between uniqueness, the nature of knowledge, and the future of humanity in an age of advancing artificial intelligence. The conversation offers a compelling framework for understanding why our differences are our greatest assets and how true progress unfolds.
The Value of Being Different: The Law of Comparative Advantage
At the heart of economic value is uniqueness. According to the law of comparative advantage, the more different you are from others, the more economically valuable you become. Imagine an exact clone of yourself. While there are two of you, your combined economic value is not much greater than one, because you would be competing for the exact same opportunities and roles.
This principle is crucial as we contemplate a future with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The notion of instantly creating a billion brilliant AGIs to solve humanity’s problems is a misconception. If these AGIs were clones, they would all be competing for their “perfect dream job,” diminishing their collective value. People — and future AGI “persons” — are valuable because they are unfathomably different from one another, a fact that society has yet to fully harness.
The True Origin of Creativity
Humanity’s defining trait is our ability to generate knowledge, a skill no other species on Earth possesses. However, this creative spark didn’t evolve for the purpose of innovation. Instead, it developed as a mechanism for the reception of complex cultural knowledge.
While many animals can transmit simple behaviors, they cannot copy complex, purposeful actions. The evolution of human creativity was the development of the ability to conjecture and understand the explanations behind another’s actions. This allowed for a vast and rapid transmission of culture. For most of history, this ability was used simply to understand what others were thinking and doing. The use of this creative faculty for genuine problem-solving — to invent a better campfire, for instance — was a rare and slow-burning side effect.
Can Knowledge Be Lost?
The advancement of knowledge is not inevitable. The entire process is fallible, and humanity’s capacity for error is limitless. History is filled with examples of cultures that have destroyed their own ability to solve problems, leading to stagnation or collapse. Every creative society before our own Enlightenment-era civilization ultimately self-destructed by impeding its own progress.
Tools That Amplify Thought
Fortunately, humans have developed tools that exponentially increase the efficiency of knowledge creation.
- Language allowed us to articulate problems, both to others and within our own minds.
- Writing and arithmetic provided new frameworks for explanation.
- Computers and the Internet revolutionized the storage and spread of information.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as Large Language Models (LLMs), is the latest in this line of efficiency-boosting tools. As Albert Einstein reportedly said, “My pencil and I are more clever than I,” the same is now true for our computers and AI assistants.
It is crucial, however, to distinguish between AI and AGI. LLMs are powerful tools going in a great direction, but it is not the direction of AGI; in fact, it is almost the opposite.
AI vs. AGI: A Tale of Two Futures
There is a common misconception that accelerating knowledge discovery with AI will follow the path of game-playing systems like AlphaGo — imitating human knowledge and then surpassing it through self-play. However, the roles of AI and AGI in our future are fundamentally different.
AI as a Tool: AI and LLMs will greatly increase our rate of progress, much like the invention of printing or the internet. They are efficiency multipliers for the spread of information and help humans work faster.
AGI as a Person: A true AGI would not be a tool but a person, with the creativity and intelligence residing in its program. If recognized as persons, AGIs would have rights and own property, starting with the very computers they run on. Copying an AGI would not be a simple file transfer; it would be the creation of a new individual who would need resources, rights, and a purpose. The advantage of having AGIs is not the same as having faster computers; it is the same as having more creative people, with all the complexity that entails.
The Computational Universe and Our Central Role
Is the universe itself a giant computer? The answer is yes, but not in the way many think. The universe is computational because its laws of physics allow for the existence of universal computers within it. A part of the universe can simulate the whole. The idea of an external computer running our universe as a simulation is a belief in the supernatural — an explanation that explains nothing.
Within this universe, humans play a special role. We are not an insignificant speck of dust. We are “universal explainers,” the only entities we know of that can create knowledge. Knowledge is information that breaks the universe’s standard “hierarchy rule,” where large, powerful things affect small things. With knowledge, a person can use a simple axe to fell a mighty tree. We can understand and predict the behavior of a star a billion years from now because, for all its power, it is a simple, mindless object. We, the creators of knowledge, are far less predictable and far more significant.
Ultimately, humanity’s future is one of two extremes: unimaginably better or extinct. If we continue to create knowledge in a stable and rapid manner, we will overcome our problems and eventually spread through the galaxy. If we allow our societies to become static, we will fail. The path forward lies in embracing the endless quest for good explanations and recognizing the profound power of our individual uniqueness.
