Drawing from Joyce Appleby’s *The Relentless Revolution*, this article argues that modern AI panic reflects a 'cognitive mercantilism' mindset. Just as early capitalism replaced mercantilist beliefs about finite wealth, the author suggests we must shift from viewing intelligence as a scarce resource to recognizing its generative potential. The piece outlines four core mercantilist beliefs—wealth scarcity, distrust of the poor, supply-side economics, and agricultural determinism—and maps them onto contemporary fears about AI, talent hoarding, and elite control over cognitive output. It warns that treating intelligence like bullion risks replicating the inequalities of the past.
The analysis highlights how capitalism was not inevitable but historically contingent, emerging from new ideas about work, demand, and human agency. Similarly, the author implies that our current technological
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing