For centuries, consumer culture has been dismantling the villages, and the connections, that once held us.

AI risks completing that dismantling, one connection at a time.

Each time we turn toward AI instead of a person, something irreplaceable quietly disappears.

But… AI also opens a door: Improve efficiency, work less, connect more, and return to the village.

Jeff is an engineer. He’s sharp, thoughtful, and great at his work. For years he’s led a team of eight people. They divide the work they’re assigned evenly among themselves, cover for each other when life gets hard, and celebrate with a steak dinner at the nearby Texas Roadhouse when a big project wraps up.

But recently, everything’s changed. Jeff’s been told to lead a different sort of team, a team of AI agents. He began by assigning each AI agent a task, and then off they went, running without complaint or distraction. He even added an AI supervisor to track their performance and keep them in line. Jeff provides the human oversight. He tells me he’s getting more done than ever before.

It's not just Jeff's life that's transforming. It's all of ours, too. (Thai, 2020)

When I was in high school, writing a paper, and I needed a word but couldn’t find it, I asked my English teacher. In college, I leaned across the desk and asked Rob, a colleague who was good with words. And as a professional, I’d call my editor. Now, I ask AI. And in three seconds flat I have five new words to choose from.

And when I was a grad student working on a research project and got stuck on a question I couldn’t answer, I walked to the Macdonald-Stewart Library Building and sat down across from Margret, the librarian. She listened and then went looking with me. We talked back and forth, walking through racks of books, searching for an answer. Now I ask AI and, most of the time, I have what I need in seconds.

And when it was 2 a.m. and my breakup with Krista, my college girlfriend, was pressing in on me, I’d lie there weighing it: Should I call someone about this? And when I........

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