Outline of Cognology
“Not to understand the world before you were born is to remain forever a child ”
AI as the next Chapter in Information processing
From language to writing to the printing press and now AI human history has been shaped by a small, unique subset of technologies that have each exponentially transformed how we process information.
Understanding this pattern allows us to clarify and then navigate both the enormous disruption and the equally enormous potential of AI.
Cognologies provides a powerful lens for appreciating and understanding AI's place in human history. Rather than viewing it as unprecedented rupture, it instead positions it as the latest in a series of transformative technologies which have each reshaped society and our relationship with knowledge.
By examining the historical parallels between AI and its predecessors language, writing, and the printing press we can mitigate today's "exponential angst" and develop more effective strategies for navigating technological transformation.
COGNOLOGICAL Impact
This approach doesn't diminish AI's revolutionary impact; rather, it contextualises it within a pattern that can guide our response to its challenges and opportunities.
LANGUAGE (50,000+ BCE): The first cognology, enabling abstract thought and collective action
WRITING (3,000+ BCE): Externalised memory, enabling complex governance and knowledge preservation
PRINTING PRESS (1440s CE): Mass distribution of information, catalysing scientific and social revolutions
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Now): Cognitive enhancement, transforming knowledge creation and distribution
THE COGNOLOGICAL PATTERN
Each fundamentally changed how both humans and the society they lived in processes information
Each triggered significant power shifts in those societies
Each initially created anxiety before becoming completely normalised
Each served as the eventual catalyst for its successor
Each required huge and entirely new ethical frameworks and social adaptations at civilisational, community and individual levels.