# Divisionmaxxing (Part 2 of 2)
Date: 2026-10-01
Previous Part: https://disrael.github.io/blogs/raw/divisionmaxxing.part1.md

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Eventually women and other races will get across the moat of traditional race and gender bias but the most inner wall of the divisionmaxxing castle, intelligence, is a long way from being breached.

> Demis Hassabis: I think science is the most important, and the scientific method is probably the greatest, invention humanity has ever come up with. I think science is what drives all progress. Modern civilisation comes from scientific and technical advances. I think the most important thing we could apply AI to is to advance science and things like medicine.

Hassabis doesn’t say it but it’s easy to take his comment as a divisionmaxxing waterfall:

Science is the most important => scientists are number one => engineers are number two => scientist and engineers should have greater status

Yet there are a lot of simple mistakes in the above quote. First off scientific method is nowhere near the greatest invention of humanity. Maybe it would make the top 10 in a list that includes language, clothing, [carrier bags](https://www.ursulakleguin.com/the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction), fire, agriculture, domesticated animals, the wheel, ships, art, etc. — maybe not.

Second science does not drive all progress. The vast majority of human progress came before the invention of science. Arguably the vast majority of the world’s progress came before the invention of humans.

“Modern civilisation comes from scientific and technical advances.” — this is a tautology as modern = technologically advanced.

“I think the most important thing we could apply AI to is to advance science and things like medicine.” — also kind of a tautology since probably AI has the best shot at progress by curing diseases. However that’s not because diseases are are main problem but because AI probably can’t solve universal healthcare, the drug overdose crisis, poverty, etc.

Third the value of science is not a constant. As more and more is discovered the value of most inventions becomes less, not more, than the ones before it. So electrification sets an incredibly high bar for anything after it. Conversely the longer we put off changing a system born of colonialism, slavery, and unregulated manufacturing, the more that system, and not science, becomes the low hanging fruit.

An argument could be made for reversing the value waterfall:

Stability is most important => competent politicians are number one => ordinary workers and family are number two => tangible asset work, families, and policy makers should have greater status

That argument might fail in the face of AI actually curing diseases.

[**AI model rapidly designs new antibiotic to fight resistant bacteria**  
*Researchers at McMaster University have developed a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of…*www.news-medical.net](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260423/AI-model-rapidly-designs-new-antibiotic-to-fight-resistant-bacteria.aspx "https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260423/AI-model-rapidly-designs-new-antibiotic-to-fight-resistant-bacteria.aspx")

[**Bacteria-killing polymers could be a new class of antibiotics**  
*Researchers used AI to identify promising candidates for antibiotics less prone to resistance.*news.stanford.edu](https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/09/bacteria-killing-polymers-new-class-antibiotics "https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/09/bacteria-killing-polymers-new-class-antibiotics")

However AI driven disease cures may send us further and further down the divisionmaxxing rabbit hole if we simultaneously can’t provide universal health insurance, free college, etc.