The death of scale

For at least the last 20 years, technology has been about scale.

Startups strived to become scaleups.

Software was architected to scale to global user bases.

Individuals became tapped into networks far greater than kin, localities, or even countries - we became consumers of media scaled to unparalleled levels.

The root of the word ‘scale; is the Latin scala, which meant ladder or flight of stairs, and was originally used in English as a verb to describe climbing a wall with a ladder as one would do during a siege.

We still carry this meaning in the modern usage. To climb aggressively, to overcome barriers, to ‘reach the top’ and dominate.

With AI, we have invented a perfect scaling machine.

Given the right context, sufficient guardrails, and access to the relevant tools, it can go and conquer castles tirelessly. If there is a system, then AI can navigate within it faster, cheaper, and in many cases more intelligently than any human, and do so tirelessly.

But if everyone has access to these scaling machines, then the value of scaling necessarily trends towards 0.

If everyone can scale, then those castles are worthless. There is as much value capturing one now as there is capturing an anthill.

So if scaling dies, what remains?

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