The Gap is an essayistic exploration of how AI is reshaping our understanding of intelligence, progress, responsibility, and autonomy. In four texts, the series doesn’t focus on technical details, but on the cultural, social, and philosophical impact of artificial intelligence. These essays create a space for reflection – for those who don’t just want to know what AI can do, but what it does to us.
What We Perceive as Intelligence
Modern AI systems communicate smoothly and confidently – creating a misleading image of intelligence. This “aesthetic of certainty” simulates trust without offering real depth. The first essay explains why that’s a problem – and how we can learn to engage more critically with machine-generated language.
What looks like intelligence is often the result of interface design and management choices.
Progress Without Direction
AI is often seen as a driver of progress. But what kind of progress are we actually pursuing? Much of what is celebrated as innovation is ultimately about efficiency – not transformation. The second essay questions this narrow narrative and asks: where are we really going?
Because as long as humans still dream, they feed the system with what it doesn’t yet know. But if we stop asking new questions — because the machine gives us so many answers — then progress, too, will eventually stop.
Thinking Beyond Knowledge
When machines take over the processing of knowledge, new forms of human thinking become possible. Rather than encouraging conformity, AI could empower responsibility and judgment. The third essay outlines an educational ideal that works with, not against, AI – while clearly defining its limits.
No new material. Just a new mindset.
No new discipline. Just a new focus.
Not: What do you know?
But: What do you do with what you (don’t) know?
From Reason to Algorithm
The final essay takes a broader view: What would an enlightened approach to AI look like? Somewhere between acceleration and critique, it explores the idea of a new kind of maturity – one rooted in self-responsibility, critical thinking, and democratic discourse.
Algovism means: The system thinks along – in your tone, at your pace, on your terms. With ideas you never even asked for.
The Gap is not a technical document, but a pointed commentary – stylistically situated between essayistic analysis and philosophical reflection. Personal experience, social observation, and critical theory interweave throughout.
The project is aimed at decision-makers in business, education, and policy – at people who don’t just want to use technology, but understand it and shape it responsibly.
The complete series has been published on Substack: Substack.
The German version is available at: unvollstaendig.de