The Trail You Cannot See
Walking with Sage one morning, I noticed something simple.
Humans follow trails.
Dogs follow scent.
When we walk through the woods, I see the path in front of me—the worn dirt, the bends in the trail, the markers that tell me where others have gone before. It’s comfortable because someone else has already proven the way.
But Sage isn’t looking at the trail.
Her nose is working constantly. She’s reading signals in the air and on the ground that I cannot see at all. To her, the forest is full of information that humans simply miss.
Sometimes she pauses, lifts her head, and turns slightly off the path.
There’s something there.
Not visible.
But real.
Most of the time, I gently guide her back to the trail. Humans like staying on the path because it feels safe.
But every now and then, I follow her for a moment and see where she’s pointing.
Working with AI has started to feel a little like that.
Most people use AI to stay on the trail—to get answers faster or finish tasks more quickly. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s useful.
But occasionally, AI does something different.
It catches the scent of an idea that isn’t obvious yet.
A connection between things.
A possibility that hasn’t fully formed.
Suddenly, you realize there might be another way through the woods.
AI didn’t choose the direction.
It simply helped reveal signals that were already there but invisible to the human eye.
And once you notice them, you begin to understand something dogs have always known.
The world contains far more paths than the ones we can see.