近期一篇评论文章指出，当前社会对人工智能的恐慌情绪在逻辑结构上与早期资本主义时期的恐惧心理高度相似，作者将这种现象命名为“认知重商主义”1。该观点借由乔伊斯·阿普比的资本主义史论述，揭示了现代AI焦虑实际上是对重商主义核心信念的无意识复刻，即错误地假设智力资源稀缺、普通民众不可信、经济思维以供给控制为中心，且多数人无法胜任复杂的认知劳动1。
为了论证这一历史映射的合理性，文章援引了农业革命前的具体数据作为参照：当时工人每年的工作天数从250天增加至300天，其驱动力并非生存压力，而是对烟草、茶叶、糖和印度棉布等新消费品的渴望1。基于此，作者反驳了关于“AI马尔萨斯主义”的担忧——即担心智力过剩会导致人类在经济上变得冗余，指出这种观点仍停留在经典马尔萨斯主义假设需求固定的误区中1。相反，文章主张AI应被视为创造新无限需求的机会，它可能引发一场“认知勤劳革命”，刺激人们自愿增加认知努力以获取新的智力消费体验，正如普通人无需成为农业生产者即可享受现代食品体系一样，未来人类也可能无需成为智力生产者即可成为重要的消费者1。
A new commentary argues that contemporary anxiety surrounding artificial intelligence mirrors the "cognitive mercantilism" found in early capitalist thought. 1 The author draws on Joyce Appleby’s historical analysis to map four core tenets of mercantilism onto modern AI discourse, specifically noting that both eras share beliefs in the scarcity of wealth or intelligence, the need for elite governance over the general public, a supply-centric economic mindset, and the assumption that most people are suited only for basic labor roles like agriculture. 1
This historical analogy suggests that just as agricultural revolutions previously liberated people from subsistence farming by creating new consumer desires, AI may free individuals from the necessity of cognitive production. 1 While critics fear "AI Malthusianism"—the idea that an excess of intellectual output renders humans economically redundant—this perspective contradicts classical Malthusian theory, which assumes fixed demand. 1 Instead, the article posits that AI could stimulate a "cognitive industrious revolution," where ordinary people voluntarily increase their mental effort because they become important consumers of new intellectual goods rather than producers, similar to how workers historically increased their annual workdays from 250 to 300 to afford luxuries like tobacco, tea, sugar, and Indian cotton. 1
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