The AI Daily Brief · Sunday, November 1, 2026
Writer and strategist Venkatesh Rao argues in a widely shared essay titled 'Cognitive Mercantilism' that current fears surrounding artificial intelligence mirror the mercantilist economic worldview from 400 years ago. He suggests that just as the agricultural revolution liberated humanity from subsistence farming and unleashed massive consumer demand, AI could liberate people from routine cognitive production and spark an unprecedented explosion in intellectual consumption and demand.
“AI panic is really a form of cognitive mercantilism.”
“The cognitive mercantilist wants to hoard intelligence and its products like bullion.”