Human Capital Depreciation: The Half-Life of Domain Knowledge in an AI-Mediated Economy

In classical economics, human capital was viewed as an accumulating asset: experience deepened knowledge, and repetition sharpened judgment. But when generative models intermediate daily cognitive tasks, the dynamics of human memory and skill retention undergo a profound structural shift.

1. The Generation Effect and Cognitive Scaffolding

In cognitive psychology, the generation effect demonstrates that information is remembered far better when produced actively by the brain rather than recognized passively from external text. When developers or analysts accept pre-generated AI text without mental derivation, synaptic reinforcement is bypassed, accelerating knowledge decay.