You Are the Wave, Not the Surfer
Insight
Yao claims the era of individual heroism in AI is over: everyone is a surfer, but it is the wave that matters, not any one surfer, so discussing a single person's impact is illusory. He frames progress as a collectivist story and is wary of narratives that mythologize individuals, even finding old-era "heroes" a little foolish in hindsight.
Source Context
"现在大家都是冲浪的人，本质上是那个浪，而不是你那个冲浪的人。" "AI个人英雄主义时代已经过去了，所以也没有什么英雄，有时候甚至觉得旧时代英雄有点蠢。" — Whisper transcript [00:02:08] ("每个人都是冲浪的人，本质上是一个浪，而不是你那个冲浪的人"); heroism preview at [00:00:50]; collectivism revisited in chapter [03:24:48 集体主义胜利]. Quotes verified against 虎嗅 digest #1, #3. Gloss: Everyone surfs, but it's the wave that matters; the age of individual AI heroism is over.