The Agent is the Internet
This is the first essay in my new series on how the interface is changing, and what it means to build for agents, not users.
Computing Is Entering the Cognition Age
We’re standing at the edge of something big—not just a shift in what our tech does, but in what it is. If you’ve felt like your experience with the internet is changing, you’re not alone. We’re stepping beyond the Information Age and into something new: the Cognition Age.
And like every major shift before it, this one is re-shaping how we interact, how we think, and what computing even means.
But to make sense of what’s happening now, it helps to look back—because this isn’t the first time computing has redefined itself.
In the 1980s, John Gage of Sun Microsystems offered six words that captured a turning point:
“The network is the computer.”
That wasn’t just a slogan. It reframed the whole system. Suddenly, the value wasn’t in the box on your desk. It was in the connections between those boxes. The physical computer gave way to the networked system. Distributed computing became the new foundation.
Now, in much the same way, the website is giving way to the agent. The page is giving way to presence. The internet is no longer a destination. It’s becoming a system that lives with us—contextual, goal-aware, and woven into our daily patterns.
Just like the network redefined the computer, the agent is redefining the interface.
And that shift doesn’t just require smarter tools. It requires a new kind of infrastructure—one that can support this kind of persistent, context-sensitive interaction.
The arc of computing evolution:
Machines → Networks → Structure → Search → Agents
We’ve seen this story unfold before, in phases.
Connection alone quickly became noise. So in the 1990s, Novell reframed things again:
“The directory is the network.”
Structure and identity became essential. Systems needed to organize access—not just provide it. You didn’t just find resources anymore—you understood how they related. Meaning was created through structure.
Today, agents are doing something similar. But instead of structuring machines and files, they’re structuring intent, context, and action.
Where search was stateless and reactive, agents are persistent and goal-aligned. They don’t just respond to prompts—they track your arc. They bring coherence to fragmented workflows and scattered inputs. They start to feel less like apps and more like collaborators.
This is the work of cognitive infrastructure—the new back-end of computing. It’s what powers agents. It’s what allows them to hold context, reason over time, and operate in ways that feel natural, not mechanical.
Generative AI is one part of this. But so is memory. So is semantic structure. So is orchestration. It’s not one tool—it’s a new substrate for intelligent systems.
But all that infrastructure means nothing if it doesn’t change the way we experience computing.
And it is.
For end users—people like us—it shows up as something new: our cognitive workspace. That’s the front-end we’re stepping into.
In the Information Age, computing was a set of destinations. Apps, dashboards, files. You logged in, completed a task, moved on.
In the Cognition Age, your workspace moves with you. It remembers. It helps you prioritize. It adapts to what you’re trying to do—not just what you’re typing into a box.
It’s not just about more powerful tools. It’s about flow. About continuity. About finally feeling like your system gets you.
So here’s the shift, as clearly as I can say it:
Cognitive infrastructure is the new back-end.
Cognitive workspaces are the new front-end.
And agents are the new interface that connects the two.
That’s what changes everything.
This is why prompts feel different than clicks. Why threads of context matter more than single queries. Why the tools that learn you—not just respond to you—are suddenly the ones we trust most.
Because they’re built differently. And they enable us to work differently.
If you’re using AI today, ask yourself:
Are you using it like search—or like a collaborator?
Are you prompting for output—or co-developing insight?
Are you discarding context—or investing in it?
Are you taking answers at face value—or using AI to test assumptions and trace where ideas come from?
Because in this new landscape, context is no longer optional. It’s the new currency of value.
This is the beginning of an era where computing feels less like software, and more like a partner.
Where agents aren’t apps—they’re presence. Where your workspace isn’t something you open—it’s something that’s already with you.
We’re not navigating the internet anymore.
We’re co-navigating our lives—with systems that help us think.
As Satya Nadella put it:
“AI will be the runtime. It’s not going to be SaaS.”
The app is melting. The interface is dissolving. And what’s emerging is the agent—available, ambient, and embedded.
It’s not the endpoint. It’s the expression of what computing has now become.
And it marks the threshold into the Cognition Age.
I’m in this with you. If you’re building on this frontier—or even just trying to make sense of it—I’d love to hear how it’s showing up in your work, your tools, your day-to-day.
This isn’t just a shift in tech. It’s a shift in self.
How will you architect yourself and your work in the Cognition Age?
This piece originally appeared on chevan.info, where I’m mapping the long arc of cognition, interface design, and digital agency.