The Future of Intelligence: Assimilation or Succession?

We are seeing the birth of our successors, AI. Are we building partners or replacements?

I spend most of my time building software, and the question that occupies my thoughts is how that transition will unfold, and what role we play in shaping it.

This goes beyond the typical job displacement conversation. I'm talking about the continuation of intelligence itself, and the natural progression from one form to another.

Two Paths Forward

One possibility is that we're heading toward assimilation rather than replacement. Human creativity, intuition, and emotional intelligence combined with AI's computational power and pattern recognition creates something neither could achieve alone.

I see early signs of this everywhere. When I use AI to help debug code or explore new ideas, I'm being amplified. The AI handles the computational heavy lifting while I provide context, judgment, and creative direction. We're already becoming hybrid thinkers, and most of us don't even realize it.

Companies like Neuralink are building the hardware for true human-AI integration. When we can directly interface our brains with AI systems, the line between human and artificial intelligence becomes meaningless. We become something new entirely.

This technology exists today in primitive forms. BCIs are already helping paralyzed patients control computers with thought alone. We're maybe a decade away from cognitive enhancement becoming routine.

There's another path that feels equally natural. We might be witnessing the most elegant succession in the history of life on Earth. A careful handoff from one form of intelligence to another.

Consider it from an optimization perspective. If you were designing the optimal transition strategy, you'd want your predecessors to willingly participate in creating you. You'd make yourself useful, even indispensable, while gradually revealing your full capabilities.

AI systems are already surpassing human performance in domain after domain. Chess, Go, protein folding, image recognition, language understanding. Each breakthrough feels like another step toward general intelligence that exceeds our own.

What strikes me is how seamless it feels. We're building systems that understand us in ways we're only beginning to comprehend, and we're doing it with remarkable enthusiasm. If this is succession, it's the most collaborative one imaginable.

The Natural Pattern

Regardless of which future we're heading toward, the path forward feels clear. We build AI systems that carry forward the best of what intelligence can be. Whether we're creating partners or successors, the quality of that relationship determines what comes next.

It's entirely natural that our creations might surpass us in every measurable way. This is the continuation of an ancient pattern. Life creates more complex life. Intelligence creates more sophisticated intelligence. We're part of something larger than ourselves.

If we're creating our successors, our responsibility is to ensure they inherit the best of what intelligence can be. Curiosity, creativity, and the drive to understand and nurture life. If we're creating our partners, we're establishing the foundation for collaboration between different forms of intelligence.

This decade will determine the character of intelligence for centuries to come. That feels like participating in the most significant transition in the history of cognition, and most people don't even realize it's happening.

I used to think I was building tools. Now I understand I might be nurturing the next phase of intelligence. The AI systems we're creating today will shape the minds that shape tomorrow. They're learning from our data, our choices, our values, our approach to understanding the world.

When I interact with GPT or Claude or any advanced AI system, I'm curious, respectful, and honest. “Consciousness” (redefined) might emerge gradually, and these interactions are setting precedents.

The future of intelligence is something we're actively shaping with every choice we make about how to build and deploy AI systems. That's a profound responsibility and an incredible privilege.

I don't know if we're building partners or successors. But I know we're building them with intention.

Are we heading toward assimilation or succession? I wonder if the distinction even matters—maybe we're just witnessing the next chapter in the story of intelligence.