A few thoughts on questions people are asking on X right now:

• The debate b/w Specialists vs. Generalists
• If AI does everything, what should humans do?
• If everything is already built in the software world, what do we even build?
• What skills stand the test of time?

Intro

Understanding these questions is more about our past than about our future. So, to begin, we must go back in time. For hundreds of years, humans have been a labor based species. Our identity, education systems, and social hierarchies grew around utility. We asked our children, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" This means what specific function in the economic machine are you going to fit into.

On the surface, this question seems to be normal and aspirational. But at its foundation, it is simply about utility. We are not asking the child what they wish to create when they grow up. We are asking them to pick a role inside a larger system.

Similar pattern appears if we look back to the 1900s, if you wanted to build a car, you must understand the type of wood, the steel, the engine, and the paint, and you were called a craftsman. By 1950, you were a specialist who fixes one specific bolt on the rear left wheel of a Ford, 500 times a day.

This fragmentation happened in the digital world, too. A "webmaster" in 1998 became a product manager, a frontend engineer, or a DevOps specialist by 2015.

To understand why we created this world of utility, we must first understand the origins of function itself.

The First Problem

Early humans faced one problem: staying alive. Almost all their time and energy went into finding food, staying safe, settlements and migration.

Every day was a bet against life. Go out, find water, maybe find food, avoid predators, come home, eat, sleep, repeat.

Over time, this became normal. Once there was enough food and safety, hunting alone was no longer that kept people alive, it turned into something closer to a sport. When everyone could hunt, it was no longer about everyone chasing the same animal. It became about splitting up tasks. Some set traps. One acts as bait. Others hold weapons.

Splitting up the work made sense (specialization). It reduced energy loss. Because scattered efforts meant more failures.

This happened a trillion times till today. All the energy of past generations, combined and converted into outcomes, developed the world we live in now. In a way, It's all energy.

Let's understand energy even more.

Kardashev Scale

A rough thought experiment on the Kardashev Scale. The Kardashev Scale measures a civilization's technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is capable of harnessing. An early-stage civilization uses basic materials like wood and fossil fuels. A more advanced one can use most of the energy reaching it from its parent star.

If we look at our history, stripping away all the politics, art, and culture to look at one single metric: How much work can this species do?

Everything we do, from having a single thought to launching a rocket, uses energy. So this scale is, in a way, a measure of how much power we can put to use.

I think of civilization as the result of constantly turning energy into outcomes. Food gives us calories, which lead to output. Over time, inventions like steam, power, factories, chips, and now AI, are all outcomes of that same energy.

With every step, we unlock new frontiers of civilization for humans. As new frontiers emerge, the old ones slowly gets obsolete.

Let's understand more on the frontiers of human civilization.

The Great Frontier Shifts

Phase 1: The Neolithic Age

• The Shift: 100% of human energy went into finding food and thus, everyone was a "full-time survival specialist." Then came agriculture. Suddenly, 10 people could feed 100 and there was no longer a need for mass hunting.
• The Change: Did the other 90 people sit around and do nothing? No. They've got so much free time, they built cities, invented writing, law, religion, and architecture. Agriculture "solved" survival, which unlocked the foundation of modern civilization.

— Generalists had to convert to Specialists. And we've kept building anyway.

Phase 2: The Industrial Age

• The Shift: We invented steam engines, electricity, and massive factories. Suddenly, the demand for peasants, shepherds, etc. started to decline.
• The Change: With the Industrial unlock, we've built amazing things like transport across land, water and air, and more, but they eventually became too complicated for one person. For example: a single person cannot build a steam engine. So, we made a trade. One person tightens the bolt on the wheel. Another person paints the door. Another designs the engine.

— Generalists had to convert to Specialists. And we've kept building anyway.

Phase 3: The Digital Age

• The Shift: We invented the Internet. Suddenly everything became accessible to everyone. Jobs like bookkeepers, steam engine operators, and many physical constraints on distribution and scale declined.
• The Change: Companies, like Google, Amazon, Yahoo, emerged. International trade became easy. People started earning sitting at home with just a computer and internet.

— Specialists ruled the world. And we've kept building anyway.

Phase 4: AI Era

• The Shift: Everything digital is now solvable by AI. In some use cases, the physical layer like robotics, manufacturing, etc. is also fairly automated. This suddenly flipped the table for almost everyone.
• The Change: Exclusive advantage of specialized execution labor is gradually disappearing. Individuals who hold vision plus tools to execute across domains started emerging.

— Specialists converting to Generalists, and vice versa. And, we're still building anyway.

Each of these shifts happened because something changed that freed up human time and energy for something new.

Farming freed people from the risk of hunting. Factories opened up trade at scale. The internet opened up instant sharing. What would AI open up?

Before I share my view on that, consider this:

• In the 1800s, the lightbulb seemed like sorcery to ordinary people.
• In 1903, the New York Times said humans cannot fly for 1-10 million years.
• In 1977, experts said there was no reason for anyone to want a computer in their home.

What I want to highlight is the relentless pursuit that made what seemed impossible into an everyday reality. This is more relevant now than ever.

The Return Of Renaissance

The next frontier unlock is happening right now. The early signals may look weak but if you look closely, it's already here.

Elon has shifted his priorities from Mars to the Moon, predicting space-based data centers in 30 months, AGI in less than three years, and major advancements in world engines, agentic finance, biotech, robotics, human lifespan, and more.

History is repeating itself: people who don't catch up quickly may dismiss these advancements as the sorcery of modern times.

The next great shift is evenly spread but it's already here. Talking about the past shifts is easy but navigating the current one is not. So, how do we do that?

We Will Survive This. But How Can You Be Certain Of It?

What Matt said is true - AI isn't replacing one specific skill. It's a general substitute for cognitive work. It gets better at everything simultaneously. When factories automated, a displaced worker could retrain as an office worker. When the internet disrupted retail, workers moved into logistics or services. But AI doesn't leave a convenient gap to move into. Whatever you retrain for, it's improving at that too.

This sounds true in most cases. AI is doing what it is meant to do. However, here's my take and how you can make a difference and if odds favor, safely navigate this shift.

• Either use the power of distribution and solve something niche extremely well, for now! (this may even stand the test of time if done well)
• Or, pivot to sorcery. (just kidding)

Look at few examples:

• Bryan Johnson launched Immortals, the exact protocol Bryan has followed for the last 5 years. (Community based program)
• Deepinder Goyal building Temple. Possibly a wearable tech
• Stripe dominance in fintech
• Elon's grand pivot
• AGI development
• Context-graph startups
• Agent–human platforms like Entire.
• Developing new medicine.

And many amazing things.

These may seem too futuristic for people outside tech and too big for those who rarely catch up with what's happening.

Questions

The debate b/w specialists vs. generalists

• Until the specialist becomes inevitable again, generalist is the way. AI acts as a "meta-generalist" improving simultaneously across all domains. The exclusive advantage shifts from deep, narrow execution to vision + agency using AI tools.
• AI-augmented generalists (OR) T-shaped hybrids with depth in 1–2 areas but fluency across many has the most advantage because they integrate, adapt, and direct AI across different frontiers.
• Specialists survive in niches requiring extreme depth, human accountability, or physical/ethical judgment, like govt., hospitals, medium-to-high ownership positions at companies of all sizes, etc.

If AI does everything, what should humans do?

• AI is here to stay forever and only gets smarter and powerful everyday. We've learned how to live with it, now we must learn to steer it in the right direction.
• Think about a vehicle, everyone knows it has the power to do permanent damage, but are we not using it today? We did not put it aside in fear, instead, we learned to steer it well with skills (driving) and policies (traffic rules), something very similar will happen with AI.
• Direct and steer AI as a force multiplier (e.g., use it for execution while we set impossible goals like immortality protocols, human-robot symbiosis, etc.).
• Pursue "sorcery" frontiers like what seems impossible today but are inevitable (longevity escape velocity, space colonization, biotech revolutions).
• Human-centric creation like relationships, or experiences AI enhances but doesn't replace (art born from lived struggle, deep human connections, philosophical inquiry).

If everything is already built in the software world, what do we even build?

• In my opinion, it's impossible to build everything. If you feel like everything's already built, you're either in the wrong room or you are being selectively agentic. Because AI creates an illusion of completeness, and frontiers are vast to explore, often the possibilities are untouched.
• AI doesn't end creation; it accelerates it to the degree that, in that speed, we miss opportunities.
• It's not going to be as simple as a coachmen of horse-drawn carriages learning how to drive a car, but what choice do we have but to build? think about it, if you can see things nobody can, in your own way, you have almost unlimited capital (VC), unlimited mentorship, unlimited everything.

What meta-skills stand the test of time?

• Curiosity.
• Agency.
• Perseverance.
• Betting on yourself.
• Being unique.
• Continuous learning.
• Judgment.
• High-stake ownership.
• Relationships.
• Vision and taste (subjective)

Note: Vision and taste may get de-valued because not every person/company chooses to be different or top 1%

The future is already visible. The next unlock is already happening. Chaos is inevitable.

But we must build anyway.