Essay argues AI literacy is not an extension of computer skills
Original title: Learning to Ride Your Brain
Venkatesh Rao says conventional smarts are a social performance, not the balance needed to use AI well.
A newsletter essay argues that traditional computers are toolkits rather than machines people ride, while AI requires a balancing skill closer to riding a motorcycle. The author separates cultivated intelligence from managing attention and says social performances of being smart are not competence with AI. The piece is commentary and reports no product, incident, or research result.
- The essay treats computer literacy as unrelated to AI literacy.
- It frames conventional smartness as a social role rather than useful thinking.
From the original article
14 min read at contraptions.venkateshrao.com
Steve Jobs was wrong. A traditional computer was never a bicycle for the brain. It was never a coherent enough machine to require, or enable, the holistic mode of dynamically stabilized control that is “riding a bike” after learning to “balance” it.
By jger15 · contraptions.venkateshrao.com
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