Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M2406

The Turing Trap

The Turing Trap
BusinessHigh supportEconomics
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-31

CORE DEFINITION

Current AI research is overly obsessed with 'acting like a human' (passing the Turing test), i.e., pursuing automation to replace human labor. This weakens workers' bargaining power and exacerbates inequality. True progress should pursue 'machine augmentation of humans' (Augmentation), doing what humans cannot do, rather than imitating what humans can do. - Scaffold role: ethical compass for technological routes. - When we introduce AI, do we use it to 'eliminate an employee' (falling into the zero-sum game of the Turing trap), or to 'turn that employee into a super individual' (positive-sum game)? The former...

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Ethical compass for technological routes. - When we introduce AI, do we use it to 'eliminate an employee' (falling into the zero-sum game of the Turing trap), or to 'turn that employee into a super individual' (positive-sum game)? The former...

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The 'Turing trap' refers to taking 'whether a machine is like a human' as the core criterion for intelligence (imitation game), thereby steering research toward anthropomorphic performance rather than genuine problem-solving ability. It is a warning against wrong goals—imitation on a human scale may deviate from the original intent of 'better/more powerful'.

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Source support: Explicit

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    hai.stanford.eduhttps://hai.stanford.edu/news/human-centered-approach-ai-revolutionZH · Explicit
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