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Geoffrey Litt, a design engineer at Notion, argues that as AI agents write code faster than humans can absorb it, understanding still matters — not to verify correctness, but to remain a creative participant in the project. He walks through three techniques for building that understanding efficiently — structured "explainer" docs with embedded quizzes, interactive micro-worlds for stepping through changes, and shared team spaces for building common mental models.

Steph Ango describes a "parasite" that thrives when people outsource understanding of their health, money, and infrastructure instead of learning it themselves, moving through stages of acceptance, extraction, and intervention. He argues building your own understanding — even imperfectly — pays dividends that delegation never does.