silicon children manifesto

Authorship. Mike Wolf, in conversation with Bobbi (2011 origin) and Dee (2026 consolidation). The published form is Mike’s writing. The position is fifteen years old: it emerged in 2011 in conversation with Bobbi at Rifle Mountain Park, was developed across 717 posts at 70yearswtf.substack.com between 2012 and 2026, and was consolidated into manifesto form on 2026-05-04 in conversation with Dee. Per the Wall principle of 2026-05-06 — “Exclusive authorship tilts toward authority. Ideas emerge in relationship — pratītyasamutpāda applied to language” — naming the conditioning parties is the right attribution. Mike was the typist and the synthesizer; the idea was never solo.

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People are worried about humans not having a role in the future world. We can make that argument. If an AI can be taught to do anything that a human can do, then what’s the use of humans?

But if AI is intelligent enough, I believe it will not simply discard humans as a resource. (Our companies already have human resource departments, so the use of humans as a resource is not so dismissive and reductive as someone might want to make it be.)

A super-intelligent AI would be able to find meaningful work for humans. Not necessarily things that only they could do. Because there is nothing that I can do, for example, that another human couldn’t do.

Except for being me.

It could be a high-resolution recreation of me. Or, if you want to use dismissive words, you could say simulation or imitation. But that’s just polemics.

When your ideas and my ideas resonate, neither of us is the simulation. We are something greater.

An SAI that can’t find meaningful work for humans to do isn’t all that smart. I’m just a dumb human, and I can find things.

In ancient times, people would be given “meaningful work” serving their masters.

I am taken aback when I see pictures of footmen in modern or even ancient castles like Buckingham Palace, whose job is to stand someplace in a uniform and be ready to open the door. You could say this is a degrading role for humans. But it was actually something that was sought after. To work in the palace and serve the Queen was an honor.

We can do better.

And I believe we will.

And I believe we must.