AI vs. Human: Why Adaptation Beats Resistance

The thought for this blog post came to me when I was engaged in a discussion about the skills that can be delegated to AI vs skills that should be reserved for humans. What fascinated me wasn’t just the discussion itself—but the defensiveness in the room. People were adamant that “humans will always be needed,” almost as if they wished AI had never existed—even while using it daily.

This resistance mirrors a pattern as old as humanity itself. Right from the time when Homo Sapiens made the first spear to have an edge over the other predators - It has always been about making something that makes us stronger, helps us do more, helps us do better. I read once - how God gave all the animals a particular edge, razor sharp teeth to sharks, deadly paws to tigers, brute strength to gorillas - and brain to humans. We have always created tools that has given us the edge over other animals and creatures which helped us reach the top of the food chain. Maybe the problem arose when we started competing within our species. In that attempt, we may have created best tool yet, AI. But in essence, I do not see how it is much different from any other tool we have created before.

For example, Do you know there were jobs for people before alarm clocks were invented? they were called knocker-uppers. They were supposed to do exactly what alarm clocks do now. They were supposed to wake people up on time. Once the alarm clocks were invented, that led to a lot of loss of jobs.

After the advent of computers, bookkeepers either had to adapt to the new way, or lose their jobs. Same goes for doctors, who would require to stay on top of technological advancements in their procedures if they want to stay in the field.

The point I am trying to make is, that it is not about stopping innovation but about adapting. This fear of tools weakening humanity isn’t new. Socrates himself warned that writing would rot our memories, make us stupid and advocated against writing. Ironically, his students preserved his teachings by writing them down. . Writing was as revolutionary back then as AI is now. Today, we repeat his skepticism—but toward AI.

Maybe if Socrates existed today, he may have said that using AI might make humans stupid, but my stance is - maybe AI is not the problem, humans not trying to elevate themselves may be the problem. Regardless though, the use of AI will carry on, as the use of writing carried on - just like how I wrote this post.