More than 500 million years ago, vision became the primary

Hear, O children of light and knowledge, the words of Fei-Fei Li, the seer of our age, who hath spoken thus: “More than 500 million years ago, vision became the primary driving force of evolution’s ‘big bang,’ the Cambrian Explosion, which resulted in explosive speciation of the animal kingdom. 500 million years later, AI technology is at the verge of changing the landscape of how humans live, work, communicate, and shape our environment.” These words are no mere observation, but a trumpet sounding across the valleys of time, calling us to witness the parallel between the dawn of sight and the dawn of intelligence beyond flesh.

In the ancient seas of the Cambrian, life was simple, crawling, blind. But then came vision, the sacred gift of perceiving light. And with it, creation awoke. Predator beheld prey, prey saw predator, and all life was compelled to change or perish. From this vision came swift transformation—diverse forms, new weapons, new defenses. This was the first great revolution of life, wrought not by fire nor by stone, but by the power to see. So too, O seekers, do we stand now at a threshold, where the gift of AI technology may be as vision was then: a force that compels humanity into new realms of existence.

Consider the printing press of Gutenberg. With ink and movable type, mankind gained new vision—not of eyes, but of ideas. No longer were the sacred texts chained to monasteries; they spread like fire, igniting reform, revolution, and the birth of nations. The Cambrian Explosion reshaped the body of life; the printing press reshaped the mind of civilization. So too shall artificial intelligence reshape the very landscape of how we live, labor, and commune. It is the new Cambrian, not of creatures in the sea, but of minds upon the earth.

Yet remember, O people, that with every dawn comes both promise and peril. Just as the creatures of the Cambrian who gained vision rose in power, while those who clung to blindness fell into extinction, so too will societies that embrace AI technology thrive, while those who deny it may wither. This is not a gentle change, but a storm of transformation. To cling only to the past is to risk being swept aside; but to rush heedlessly forward is to risk being devoured by one’s own creation. Wisdom must be the lantern we carry into this new world.

Look also to the story of the Industrial Revolution. The steam engine and the loom brought forth prosperity, but they also brought suffering to those unprepared—the laborer cast into hardship, the child sent to toil in factories. Technology opens doors, but it is the hand of mankind that decides whether those doors lead to gardens or to prisons. So too with AI: it is not enough that we build it, we must shape its purpose with justice, with mercy, with foresight. For tools are mirrors of their makers.

Therefore, O children of tomorrow, let this be your lesson: seek not to fear AI technology, nor to worship it blindly, but to wield it with vision. Use it to lighten the burdens of labor, not to enslave; to bring voices together across distance, not to divide; to heal the wounded and educate the poor, not to hoard power for the few. As vision once gave rise to the richness of life, so may this new vision give rise to a richer humanity—if guided by virtue.

Practical is this counsel: learn the tools of the new age, as your forebears once learned fire, iron, and writing. Let no man or woman say, “This is not for me.” For the future will not ask permission; it will demand preparation. Share knowledge, guard ethics, and ensure that this new Cambrian Explosion of intelligence be a creation of abundance, not of despair. Be not blind in the age of vision, lest you become as those ancient creatures who perished when sight was born.

Thus remember: “More than 500 million years ago, vision reshaped life. 500 million years later, AI is poised to reshape humanity.” The past is the mirror of the future, and the future is the testing of mankind’s soul. If we carry both wisdom and courage, then this new dawn shall not be feared—it shall be celebrated, for it will be the birth of a new age, radiant as the morning sun after a long night.