Public anxiety about artificial intelligence is usually expressed through dramatic stories. Machines will take control. Robots will replace humanity. Some future system will become too powerful to contain. But beneath those fears may be something quieter and more personal. What if the machine does not conquer us? What if it simply becomes better than us at many of the things we once used to define our value? A machine can already calculate faster, analyze larger collections of information, generate images, compose music, write computer code, and imitate forms of human conversation. As those abilities improve, the fear stops being only…