Inside the Book
Contents
Four parts · Thirty chapters · Practical appendices
Preface1
- The Job Advertisement That Started This Book1
- How This Book Thinks2
- A Possibility, Not a Prophecy2
- Why Now3
- A Second Great Renaissance3
Part I — Rethinking the Ground Beneath Us — 5
Chapter 1 — The Next Great Transition7
- The Lost Beginning7
- Civilization Learns to Remember8
- Power Beyond Human Muscle8
- The Age of Information9
- The Pattern9
- Our Present Moment10
Chapter 2 — The Age of Intelligence13
- Humanity Has Always Extended Itself13
- What Each Revolution Removed14
- Intelligence Starts Behaving Like a Resource14
- What AI Is Not15
- Intelligence Is Bigger Than Logic15
- What Stays Different16
- Every Profession, Differently17
- Capability, Then Responsibility17
- The Map Isn’t Finished17
- Looking Ahead18
Chapter 3 — From Information to Understanding19
- The Noise Problem20
- Why Information Alone Isn’t Enough20
- Where the Value Moves21
- The Question Beneath the Question21
Chapter 4 — The Coming Trust Revolution23
- Civilization Is a Trust Network23
- What Distrust Costs23
- How Trust Learned to Travel24
- Where Artificial Intelligence Fits25
- Trust as Infrastructure25
- The Trust Revolution26
Chapter 5 — The Limits of Information27
- From Finding to Trusting27
- The Dishwasher Problem28
- Verification Is Labor, Not Information28
- What Civilization Already Built for This29
- When the Cost of Verification Changes29
- When Verification Gets Cheap30
- A New Economic Arithmetic30
Chapter 6 — Human Nature33
- What Doesn’t Change33
- Two Sides, Both Real33
- Where AI Fits Into This34
- Designing for Reality34
- What the Goal Is35
Chapter 7 — The Honest Transaction37
- The Smallest Unit37
- Cooperation Came First38
- What Honesty Means38
- How Trust Builds39
- The Hidden Tax39
- What We Already Built to Fix This40
- Where Artificial Intelligence Comes In40
Chapter 8 — Trust43
- A Pattern That Shows Up Everywhere44
- Trust Isn’t One Thing44
- What Trust Is Worth45
- Identity, Reputation, and Trust Are Not the Same Thing45
- Where Beau-Teak Fits46
- What This Means for AI47
Chapter 9 — Institutions49
- What Happens When the Founder Retires49
- The Same Pattern, Everywhere50
- When Institutions Start Serving Themselves51
- Where Artificial Intelligence Helps51
- Somchai’s Workshop Becomes an Institution52
Chapter 10 — Stewardship53
- Everything We Have, We Inherited53
- Not Blind Preservation, Not Reckless Change54
- Where This Leaves Artificial Intelligence54
- The Chisels55
Part II — The Personal Genie — 57
Chapter 11 — Meet Your Genie59
- Living With a Genie60
- How It Behaves60
- Why One Genie, and Not One Big Shared AI61
- One Person. One Genie.61
- Why “Genie”?62
- The Constitution Underneath62
- Living With Uncertainty, Not Eliminating It62
- What Happens to Commerce63
- The Value of Distributed Capability63
- Somchai Notices Something Change64
- Emma Furnishes an Apartment64
Chapter 12 — The Capability Amplifier67
- How We’ve Always Solved This68
- A Grill, a Summer, and Eight Hundred Dollars68
- Aitomotion69
- More Than Shopping69
- Capability That Used to Be Reserved70
- What Happens to Markets70
- A Different Question71
- Beyond the Individual71
Chapter 13 — The Architecture of Trust Between AIs73
- Standards, Not Sameness73
- Before Any Two Systems Talk74
- The Grill, Revisited75
- A Constitution for the Conversation75
- Certified for What, Exactly76
- Small Decisions, Large Consequences76
- Building for People, Not for Angels76
- Not a Technology Question77
Chapter 14 — AIFIS — The Integrity Layer79
- Why Capability Was Never Enough79
- Where Human and Artificial Intelligence Differ80
- The Layer Nobody’s Supposed to Notice81
- Boundaries, Not Scripts81
- Capability Is Not the Same Thing as Authority82
- Trust Us, or Can We Verify?82
- What Emma Notices83
- A Decision That Belongs to All of Us83
Chapter 15 — IRIS — The Reasoning Layer85
- Rules Are Not Reasoning85
- How IRIS Reasons86
- Same Identity, Better Reasoning86
- Reasoning Should Be Competitive86
- Interoperability87
- Keep Your Genie. Change Your IRIS.87
- Open Source and Pluralism87
- Different Principals, Different Responsibilities88
- IRIS Is Not Smartware88
Chapter 16 — Smartware91
- Character Stays. Capability Grows91
- Knowledge Is Not Authority91
- What Smartware Carries92
- A Master, Still Teaching92
- Becoming a Better Client, Not a Replacement Professional93
- Confidence, Not Certainty93
- Two Kinds of Legacy94
Part III — The Business Landscape — 95
Chapter 17 — Verification97
- The Next Bottleneck97
- The Institutions Nobody Notices97
- When Two Answers Both Sound Right98
- Confidence, Not Certainty98
- Every Package Has a History99
- Verification Never Finishes99
- Who Verifies the Verifiers?99
- What Gets Cheaper100
- Verification Is Not Censorship100
- Beau-Teak Learns What Verification Is Worth101
- Emma’s Solar Panels101
- A Loop That Speeds Up102
- Where Confidence Comes From102
Chapter 18 — The Trust Network103
- The Pattern Behind Every Standard103
- Standards Can Increase Freedom103
- Standards Earn Their Place104
- Nobody Builds It. Everyone Does104
- What This Means for a Business105
- Resilience106
Chapter 19 — Meet Your New Customer107
- The Realization, One Step at a Time108
- That Changes the Role of Marketing109
- Emma’s Dishwasher, Revisited109
- Somchai Hears It for the First Time110
- The Assets You Already Have110
- When Evidence Itself Becomes Worth Gaming111
Chapter 20 — I Don’t Know. Let’s Find Out.113
- Anthony’s Question113
- Ben114
- Where Are We?114
- Become the Customer115
- Something’s Missing115
- The Doorman Fallacy115
- Prove It Before You Integrate It116
- What Sawtooth Didn’t Know It Had117
- Seeing the Value That Was Already There118
- Earning Trust, Not Announcing It118
- The Repeated Question119
Chapter 21 — From Marketing to Marketeaching121
- Customers Who Already Did Their Homework121
- “Better at What?”122
- Knowledge Sawtooth Already Had122
- Teaching Instead of Just Claiming122
- What Happens123
- A Word That Doesn’t Quite Exist Yet123
- A Second Audience, Reading the Same Material124
- A Quiet Shift Inside the Company124
- Capability Changes125
- The Purchasing Manager125
Chapter 22 — Communities of Trust127
- A Community, Sort Of127
- Listening to Thousands of People128
- The Attention System129
- Continuous Awareness130
- What the Customers Already Knew131
- A Different Kind of Testing132
- Responsiveness Closes the Loop133
- What Changed133
Chapter 23 — The Honest Advantage135
- Cheap and Inexpensive135
- The Old Asymmetry136
- What Changes136
- What Sawtooth’s Genies Start to See137
- The Durability Problem138
- Emma and the Real Cost of Ownership138
- The $14 Decision139
- Cheap Isn’t Dishonest140
- The Honest Advantage140
Chapter 24 — Identity Is Not Reputation143
- Two Different Things143
- When a Company Changes Hands144
- A Truck That Says “Since 1972”145
- What a Genie Sees145
- What Produces a Reputation146
- What Happens to the Value of a Name146
- Two Jobs of a Brand147
- A Second Look at Leverage148
- Reputation Isn’t a Score148
- “What Would Someone Be Buying?”149
Chapter 25 — Poisoning the Well151
- Counterfeiting Trust Is Nothing New151
- When Appearance Gets Cheap151
- An Arms Race, Not a Final Victory152
- Where the Pressure Will Show Up152
- Sawtooth Gets Counterfeited152
- A System That Learns153
- Emma and the Offer That Doesn’t Quite Add Up153
- Why “Poisoning the Well” Is the Right Phrase154
- Don’t Build One Well154
- Forewarned155
Chapter 26 — Stewardship — A Civilizational Choice157
- Stewardship Creates Power157
- When Guardians Become Gatekeepers158
- Sawtooth Runs Into It159
- Design for When Stewardship Fails160
- Centralized or Distributed?161
- Stewardship, Distribution, Resilience161
- Who Verifies the Verifier?162
- Consensus Isn’t Proof162
- Exit Matters163
- The Chisels, Again164
- A Civilizational Choice164
Chapter 27 — Standards — The Invisible Language of Civilization167
- Already Everywhere167
- Standards Are the Key168
- Standardize the Interface, Not the Implementation168
- “We Already Do This”169
- Three Related Words, Not One169
- Standards Have to Earn Trust to Stay Alive170
- Standards Build Markets170
- What Emma Never Sees171
Chapter 28 — The Living Library173
- The Library Already Exists174
- Memory Includes the Mistakes175
- Storage Is Not the Same as Preservation175
- From Records Retention to Knowledge Preservation176
- The Librarian Doesn’t Disappear176
- Preservation Doesn’t Mean Permission177
Part IV — A Second Great Renaissance — 179
Chapter 29 — Human Flourishing181
- Now That We Can Do More, What Should We Do With It?181
- A Plural Idea, on Purpose182
- We Like Doing Things182
- The Apprentice’s Joint183
- “I Made That”183
- Why Childhood Shouldn’t Be Optimized184
- Learning How to Learn185
- Learning How to Discern185
- Remaining Human186
- An Inheritance Needs an Heir186
- What a Civilization Is For187
Chapter 30 — The Choice Before Us — A Second Great Renaissance189
- Not the First, Not the Last189
- Not Humans Versus Machines190
- “I Liked You Better Before”190
- The Honest Transaction, Once More191
- A Second Great Renaissance191
- The Choice Before Us191
- Everything Humanity Creates192
- We Are the Future192
Epilogue193
APPENDICES
Introduction to the Appendices — Further Ripples199
Appendix A — Capability & Talent201
- How AI May Change Hiring, Work, and Human Resources
Appendix B — A Language for New Possibilities205
- Sometimes We Need New Words to Think New Thoughts
Appendix C — The 2-2-2 Causal Reasoning Framework213
- Exploring Possibilities Before Choosing a Path
Appendix D — The Evidence-Ready Business217
- Preparing for the AI-Assisted Customer
Appendix E — Building an Attention System221
- From Information Overload to Continuous Awareness
Appendix F — The Living Library Starter Guide225
- Preserving What Your Organization Knows
Appendix G — The AI Pilot Playbook229
- Start Small. Learn Cheaply. Expand What Works.
Appendix H — A Conceptual Architecture for Personal AI233
- AIFIS, IRIS, Smartware, and the Personal Genie
Appendix I — AIVO — AI Visibility Optimization241
- A Sawtooth Story
Appendix Jay — Ailefant253
- A Sawtooth Story