Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M6165

Moravec's Paradox

Moravec's Paradox
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

It is relatively easy to make computers perform at adult levels on intelligence tests or in chess, but extremely difficult to give them the perception and motor skills of a one-year-old (such as walking and grasping). High-level reasoning requires little computational resources, while low-level sensorimotor skills require enormous computational resources.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

The computational cost of instincts. Things we find 'easy' (seeing, hearing, moving) are actually because, through eons of evolution, the brain has hardwired them; things we find 'hard' (logic, math) actually have low computational complexity. This suggests that in the process of AI replacing humans, blue-collar jobs (high perception/motor) may be harder to replace than white-collar jobs (pure logic).

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Anchor fast decisions

Moravec and others point out that for AI/robots, 'high-level' symbolic tasks like reasoning are easy, while 'low-level' instinctive tasks like perception and motor control are hard—contrary to human intuition.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravec%27s_paradoxZH · Explicit
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