Julie Zhuo · 7 min read · Product Strategy
What will we use our minds for?
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This article draws a historical parallel between physical labor being replaced by machines and the current displacement of cognitive work by AI. Just as physical fitness became a voluntary pursuit rather than a job requirement, the author suggests mental challenges may follow a similar path. The piece explores what humans will choose to do with their minds when AI handles most intellectual tasks.
Key Takeaways
- Physical labor's decline as a job requirement didn't eliminate humans' desire to exercise — it transformed it into a voluntary, meaningful pursuit, suggesting a similar shift may occur with cognitive work.
- Professional and managerial jobs grew from 10% to 40% of American employment between 1900 and 2017, but AI is now increasingly capable of handling these intellectual tasks.
- Humans inherently enjoy doing hard things — marathons, competitive sports, and strategy games — not out of necessity but for personal fulfillment and challenge.
- The pattern of history suggests that when machines take over labor, humans don't stop engaging in those activities; they reframe them as chosen pursuits rather than obligations.
- As AI absorbs more cognitive work, the key question becomes not what machines will do, but what humans will choose to do with their minds for growth, joy, and competition.
Excerpt
In 1867, a young journalist named Henry Morton Stanley met a man whose body he couldn't help describing: “broad shoulders, well-formed chest and limbs, and a face strikingly handsome.” According to Stanley, “Whether on foot or on horseback, he was one of the most perfect types of physical manhood I ever saw.” That man was Wild Bill Hickok , whose career included being a wagon master, scout, and guide . His day-to-day involved the moving of people and objects across vast territories. Wild Bill Hickok in buckskins; alas I could not find a shirtless one Now consider another famous specimen…