AI and the risk of synchronized blindness

I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on what AI does to individual thinking. From the student who stops struggling to the professional who no longer trusts their own judgment, it has been eye-opening. And while these are real concerns, there may be something bigger going on.

Here is the key question. What happens when millions of people engage in the same “cognitive trade” at the same time? It is not a failure of a single mind, but one that manifests itself in the whole.

Disagreement is the point

In general, complex systems do not correct themselves through consensus. They correct themselves through the productive friction of people who see things differently. And when that happens, they come to different conclusions for reasons they sometimes can’t fully explain.

Markets are a great example. At its core, a financial market is not a calculation. It is a mechanism for summarizing different human judgments. Buyers and sellers in every transaction…