Cognitive Mercantilism: AI panic resembles fears of early capitalism

The article argues that current AI anxiety mirrors mercantilist economic fears from the pre-capitalist era, both rooted in zero-sum thinking that views resources as fundamentally scarce and finite. Just as mercantilism assumed wealth could only be captured (not created) and that ordinary people were mere labor factors, AI panic assumes cognitive work is a fixed resource that AI will inevitably deplete rather than expand. The author suggests this fear reflects outdated assumptions about human value and economic possibility that capitalism eventually overcame through recognizing that ordinary people could be sources of innovation and demand.