My wife has asked me many times lately: “AI has taken 90% of your coding work, so why are you even busier now?” My laptop has practically taken over the dining table. When I’m awake, I’m either typing prompts or combing through my task list to polish details. The corner of the house meant for rest has basically become a temporary workspace.

I asked myself the same thing for a long time. It wasn’t until several side projects started moving forward, and I recalled the technological metaphors in The Three-Body Problem, that the answer became clearer.

Q1: Does AI make us busier?

No. AI simply lowers the cost of execution, allowing ideas once suppressed by high effort to finally become possible.

My busyness has never been driven by AI. It comes from a deep creative urge that has been fully unleashed. When I see a long list of pending projects, I can’t help but ride the tailwind of efficiency and bring old ideas to life.

During the Industrial Revolution, steam power increased productivity, yet workers became busier. The reason wasn’t the technology itself but how capital converted efficiency into higher output demands.

Technology doesn’t make people busy. It amplifies what they already want. The more you want to do, the more technology expands that desire.

Q2: Is technological progress good or bad?

It’s neutral. Technology isn’t black or white. It’s a mirror that reflects human nature.

If you love creating and don’t want to miss any spark of inspiration, tech helps you realize more ideas and scale that drive—so you can run five or six creative projects in parallel. If you prefer a slow, comfortable life, tech frees you from tedious chores so you can enjoy more leisure.

Technology doesn’t define or change people. It simply reveals what you truly want.

Q3: What is the ultimate meaning of efficiency?

Not to do more, but to have more choices.

AI lets me schedule multiple projects and, more importantly, choose: which ones deserve full effort, which can move slowly, and which can wait.

Just like the efficiency gains of the Industrial Revolution were once captured by capital, they eventually became social choices through bargaining—like the 8‑hour workday and weekends.

Efficiency isn’t about endless busyness. It’s about gaining the power to decide what to do, what not to do, and where to spend your time.

Final thoughts

We are not pushed by technology. Technology breaks old limits and opens possibilities.

How we handle those possibilities—and how we live with our own nature—matters more: learning to choose, leaving space, not letting the laptop occupy the dinner table, and not letting task lists become chains. In a fast‑moving tech era, the real lesson is keeping technology in service of what truly matters.

References

  1. Marx, Capital, Chapter 13 “Machinery and Modern Industry” (Chinese): https://www.71.cn/2011/1115/645830.shtml
  2. The 1833 Factory Act and official inspector reports: https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/education/factory-actdoc.pdf
  3. E. P. Thompson, “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism”: https://libcom.org/article/time-work-discipline-and-industrial-capitalism-e-p-thompson
  4. Zhou Runan, “Social Innovation in the AI Era: Salvaging Human Coordinates in the Efficiency Frenzy”: https://www.nfnews.com/content/EynPrv1Q6Z.html

Tags

#AI #TechAndLife #EfficiencyAndChoice #CareerGrowth #HumanNatureAndTools