While geological and biological evolution are slow, cultural evolution—the transmission and updating of knowledge—is incredibly fast. Humans' success stems from shifting to this faster clock. AI and LLMs are tools that dramatically accelerate this process, acting as a force multiplier for cultural evolution.

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Sci-fi predicted parades when AI passed the Turing test, but in reality, it happened with models like GPT-3.5 and the world barely noticed. This reveals humanity's incredible ability to quickly normalize profound technological leaps and simply move the goalposts for what feels revolutionary.

The "generative" label on AI is misleading. Its true power for daily knowledge work lies not in creating artifacts, but in its superhuman ability to read, comprehend, and synthesize vast amounts of information—a far more frequent and fundamental task than writing.

As AI models democratize access to information and analysis, traditional data advantages will disappear. The only durable competitive advantage will be an organization's ability to learn and adapt. The speed of the "breakthrough -> implementation -> behavior change" loop will separate winners from losers.

The next major evolution in AI will be models that are personalized for specific users or companies and update their knowledge daily from interactions. This contrasts with current monolithic models like ChatGPT, which are static and must store irrelevant information for every user.

The current limitation of LLMs is their stateless nature; they reset with each new chat. The next major advancement will be models that can learn from interactions and accumulate skills over time, evolving from a static tool into a continuously improving digital colleague.

We often think of "human nature" as fixed, but it's constantly redefined by our tools. Technologies like eyeglasses and literacy fundamentally changed our perception and cognition. AI is not an external force but the next step in this co-evolution, augmenting what it means to be human.

Across three billion years and four stages of mind (molecule, neuron, network, community), intelligence has consistently advanced by diversifying its thinking elements. The most powerful minds at each stage are those with the greatest variety of components. This frames diversity as a fundamental, time-tested strategy for improving competence in any system, including organizations.

The internet leveled the playing field by making information accessible. AI will do the same for intelligence, making expertise a commodity. The new human differentiator will be the creativity and ability to define and solve novel, previously un-articulable problems.

Forcing an 'AI culture' is short-sighted. The real goal is to foster a culture that prioritizes continuous growth and learning. This creates an organization that can adapt to any major technological shift, whether the internet, mobile, cloud, or AI. The specific technology is temporary; the capacity to learn is permanent.

Instead of forcing AI to be as deterministic as traditional code, we should embrace its "squishy" nature. Humans have deep-seated biological and social models for dealing with unpredictable, human-like agents, making these systems more intuitive to interact with than rigid software.

Human Evolution's Fastest Clock is Cultural, Not Biological | RiffOn