How Talent Evolves Across Civilizations and What AI Demands Today

Today I was reading Liu Jia's book "General Artificial Intelligence", which discusses the nature of talent across different stages of human civilization:

Agricultural civilization: strength equals talent.

Industrial civilization: skill equals talent.

Intelligent era: wisdom equals talent.

In the agricultural era, production relied on physical labor and tribal warfare; those who were stronger and could work or fight dominated resources and status, so talent was equated with physical strength.

With the industrial era, machinery and education shifted the core of social division to technology, knowledge, and operational ability; new professions such as workers, engineers, doctors, and lawyers emerged, and talent was no longer about physical power but about what one learned and mastered.

Now in the intelligent era, skills can be quickly mastered, copied, or surpassed by AI; humans must coexist with AI by leveraging higher‑level wisdom—posing valuable questions, defining goals, steering AI, and driving disruptive innovation—these become the irreplaceable new talent.

Talent is extremely important; we admire and pursue it. From any book—math, science, literature, technology—we seem to be taught how to become "talented".

Many scholars and authors, who also act as educators, are constantly sensitive and anxious about talent and how to cultivate it.

I agree with Liu Jia that the standards and focus of talent differ across civilizational stages, yet I think reducing talent to a single aspect is debatable; these aspects are more like "manifestations" than "essence".

For example, in the agricultural era we also revered the strategic wisdom of Zhuge Liang; in the industrial era we admired the creativity and insight of Einstein and Marie Curie; in the intelligent era, top athletes still amaze us with physical limits, focus, will, and teamwork—abilities that remain valuable and seemingly irreplaceable. This shows talent is never confined by a single definition.

So what is the essence of talent? I favor the definition: Talent is a person's ability to transform their unique gifts into scarce value within a specific environment.

This definition highlights three keywords: environment, gifts, and scarce value. Let's explore each.

Environment Determines Opportunity

No one can discuss talent without considering environment.

Environment is both the stage and the source of demand. Agricultural civilization valued strength because survival required it; industrial civilization valued skill because of specialized division of labor; the intelligent era values wisdom because simple skills are easily replaceable, while complex decision‑making and creative thinking become scarce.

The same communicative person may be a top negotiator in a commercial civilization but irrelevant in a closed agricultural tribe. An abstract thinker thrives in an AI research institute but struggles on a physically intensive production line.

Talent's essence is not absolute or universal; it is relative and contextual.

A person may be a talent in one environment and ordinary in another. "Heroes are made by circumstances, and circumstances make heroes."

Gifts Are the Foundation, Not Everything

"Gifts" include innate factors and accumulated experience. Some have remarkable memory, others excel in logic, some are emotionally perceptive. These gifts form the raw soil of talent.

However, if gifts are not honed into abilities and produce value, they remain "potential talent" rather than "real talent".

Gifts can be physical, mental, or cognitive. The key is to deeply understand one's gifts and consciously develop and apply them. True talent is not a passive holder of gifts but an active user of them.

Scarce Value Is the Final Proof of Talent

Talent's meaning lies in creating value, and that value must be scarce relative to the social environment.

Agricultural societies needed strong people; strength was value. Industrial societies needed efficient technicians; skill was value. Intelligent societies need foresight and transformative leaders; wisdom is value.

Value always links to demand and uneven distribution. Possessing something few others have and solving critical problems is the true essence of talent. If a capability becomes algorithmically ubiquitous or market‑saturated, even mastery may not grant the "talent" halo.

In short, Talent = Scarce Value .

However, pursuing scarcity carries risks. For example, the recent college entrance exam scores are scarce but over‑emphasis on them can lead to imbalance, neglecting mental health, social adaptability, and collaborative skills.

What Talent Do We Need in the Intelligent Era?

Talent cannot be detached from society. At this new civilizational starting point, which areas deserve our attention?

Liu Jia outlines five directions:

Research: pose the right questions.

Statistics: discover relationships among all things.

Logic: infer the unknown.

Psychology: understand self and others.

Rhetoric: persuade and lead innovation.

These five answer the core question: what human talent is hard for AI to replace? They all point to "thinking", "understanding", "creation", and "connection".

Today, a person proficient in software, programming, design, or data analysis may no longer stand out against AI. Yet those who can ask profound questions, restructure frameworks, spark collective intelligence, and navigate interdisciplinary integration remain irreplaceable.

Moreover, these directions are interdependent: good research needs logic; logic needs data; understanding others makes rhetoric effective. This integrated capability is the new talent's color in the intelligent era.

Talent is not a label, degree, or single skill; it is the dynamic coupling of person, environment, gifts, effort, creation, and value. It evolves with the times, societal needs, and self‑awareness.

For individuals, recognizing talent's essence helps find a unique path and continuously create value. For educators, organizers, and policymakers, understanding talent enables better discovery, cultivation, and utilization of people, allowing talent to truly drive civilization forward.