AI as Universal Solver

Definition: The claim that AI will soon solve medicine, aging, energy, poverty, climate change, and all other grand challenges – often framed as the inevitable outcome of exponential progress.

The Masking Mechanism: The mask is the narrative of exponential growth, borrowed from Moore’s Law, projected indefinitely onto all domains of human endeavor. The mask works because it uses real progress in narrow AI as evidence for unlimited future progress, ignoring the fact that grand challenges are not just technical – they are political, social, and biological, deeply entangled with human nature, scarce resources, and conflicting values.

Genuine Parallel: The genuine parallel is the real, incremental progress AI is making in specific medical domains – e.g., radiology, drug discovery, genomics. The mimicry is the leap from “AI can spot tumors” to “AI will end all disease” a leap that sells books, funds startups, and distracts from the hard, slow work of systemic change.