The Maladaptation Zone
During a period of Cultural Lag, we use new tools with old mindsets. We treat AI like a search engine (an old mental model) rather than a reasoning engine. We treat deepfakes like photographs (an old trust model) rather than synthetic fabrications. This mismatch is where the primary dangers of Cognitive Capture and misinformation thrive.
Historical Precedents
The Industrial Revolution was a period of intense Cultural Lag—the factory existed before the labor union or the safety code. We are currently in the "sweatshop phase" of the cognitive revolution, characterized by unregulated extraction and confusion about rights.
Field Notes & Ephemera
Field Note: Cultural Lag is not a bug; it is a feature of human stability. If we changed our values as fast as we change our phones, we would be insane. The problem is not that we are slow, but that the machines are too fast.