About
I: The promise
Artificial intelligence promises us a future in which we can tackle our greatest challenges and unlock unfathomable prosperity and abundance.
Whatever we imagine, we will be able to manifest.
A creative renaissance like never before.
II: The obstacle
Yet, with creativity comes extreme outcomes: a small minority creates the majority of economic value, while the average makes nothing. Creative work has always had extreme outcomes: the average content creator, filmmaker, musician, startup founder make nothing while the best capture most of the value in their fields.
What's new is that we will find such extreme outcomes impact ALL of us rather than just those who have chosen the creative path because AI will do the less creative work for us (making it economically useless for humans to do). In the same way the average content creator doesn't make anything, the average software engineer, designer, marketer, administrator, will struggle to create value, while the best will create more value than ever before. We're seeing early signs.
Under our current economic system, those who have the wealth to be able to take bold risks and finance education without the burden of debt will be disproportionately advantaged, while those without the resources to take risks will be brutally penalized — concentrating the opportunities AI creates.
We need a new economic system that democratizes the opportunities AI will enable.
III: Unlocking brilliance
In a creative world with extreme outcomes, venture capital is the best way finance human activity. Venture capital is a form of financing popular in the startup world in which investors give companies money in exchange for equity in the company. If the company does well, investors make a return. If the company fails, the investors lose their investment, while its creators are free to continue to pursue their next idea without incurring debt. Venture capital enables ambitious creators to dream bigger and take bold creative swings by de-risking failure.
Venture capital works exceptionally well in domains with extreme outcomes because an investor only needs a few of their investments to become successful to more-than-compensate for the many failed investments they will inevitably have (because outcomes are extreme). Venture capital and extreme outcomes is a marriage made in heaven.
The “personal token” is a new instrument that enables venture capital much more broadly. You should not need a company or even an idea to gain access to venture capital. Promising individuals, regardless of the wealth they have, should be able to raise capital to finance their learning and experimentation well before they even decide to join or start a company.
Personal tokens will unlock humanity's brilliance by democratizing the opportunities that AI will create.
Further reading: Education in the age of AI.