The Coming Sportsification of Humanity: How AI Threatens to Replace Human Value With Performance
The Law of Human Surplus Abilities
1. Machines Have Always Surpassed Us
When cranes and bulldozers arrived, humans stopped lifting stones for construction. Yet strength did not disappear. We turned it into spectacle: Strongman, Olympic lifting, CrossFit.
When the internal combustion engine made horses obsolete for travel, we didn’t abandon running or horse riding. Instead, we invented equestrianism, marathons and sprinting as sport.
When the camera automated realism, painters didn’t quit. They broke new ground in abstraction and modern art.
When computers crushed humans at chess in the late 1990s and 2000s, we didn’t stop playing. Chess became entertainment, streaming, and competition.
History shows a clear pattern: when machines take over, human skill retreats into sport, art, or ritual.
This feat is pointless in a world of forklifts - which is exactly why we watch it.