Ephemeralization
Buckminster Fuller’s “ephemeralization” is the pattern of doing more and more with less and less, until eventually you can do everything with nothing.
It is progress through dematerialization: stronger, lighter, cheaper, more capable systems replacing heavier ones.
Core Idea
Technology expands human capability by reducing the material, labor, time, and coordination cost of action.
Fuller’s examples move from stone bridges to iron trusses to steel cables: each generation can span more with less.
AI Version
AI is ephemeralization applied to intelligence work.
More can be done with fewer people, less time, less coordination, and lower marginal cost. That does not have to mean shrinking ambition. It can mean raising the ambition ceiling.
Practical Rule
When a tool lets you do more with less, do not only cut the “less.”
Use the freed capacity to attempt the “more.”
Related Notes
Source context: Garry Tan, “Boil the Ocean”