In this very, very short article, I’ve summarized how different types of human skills are decomposed into automatic behavior and purposeful behavior, and how they converge toward the unknowable potential of human value.
| Skill status | Purposeful Effort (X-Axis) | Automaticity (Y-Axis) | Example Persona | Cognitive Effort | Stress Level |
| Orange Cat Energy | Non-existent | Baseline | Orange cat, some dogs, me in the morning | Near Zero | Very Low |
| Reflex / Instinct | Low | Very High | { x  Life-forms | x =/= orange cat} | Low (Hardwired process) | Spiky (Adrenaline) |
| Mindless Work | Low | Low/Medium | Anyone with a highly repetitive job | Low | Low to Moderate |
| Specialized Skill | Medium | High | Senior coders | Moderate (Efficient) | Moderate |
| Improvisation | High | Medium | Musicians | High | Variable |
| Creativity | High | High | R&D inventors | Very High | Variable |
| Deep Work | Extreme | Low | Academics | Maximum | High (Mental Fatigue) |
| Disruption | Extreme | High (of the New) | Nikola Tesla | Sustained Maximum | Very High |
That’s it, no additional explanation 🙂
P.S. Please let me know if you’d prefer this type of content instead of my usual long article! I am working under the assumption that AI has created massive reading fatigue.[1]
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Hey! Thank you for reading; hope you enjoyed the article. I run Cognition Today to capture some of the most fascinating mechanisms that guide our lives. My content here is referenced and featured in NY Times, Forbes, CNET, and Entrepreneur, and many other books & research papers.
I’m am a psychology SME consultant in EdTech with a focus on AI cognition and Behavioral Engineering. I’m affiliated to myelin, an EdTech company in India as well.
I’ve studied at NIMHANS Bangalore (positive psychology), Savitribai Phule Pune University (clinical psychology), Fergusson College (BA psych), and affiliated with IIM Ahmedabad (marketing psychology). I’m currently studying Korean at Seoul National University.
I’m based in Pune, India but living in Seoul, S. Korea. Love Sci-fi, horror media; Love rock, metal, synthwave, and K-pop music; can’t whistle; can play 2 guitars at a time.
Help me run this site with a donation :)
I appreciate your longer articles as they provide food for thought. A summary short piece followed by your usual style would meet all needs rather than changing to fit the ‘short attention span’ training which is served up daily.
Thank you for the appreciation Christine! I will gladly write larger articles here, even though the frequency is low now. I thought about it, and I might just keep the short-form content on Linkedin! 🙂