The trail keeps showing up in places I didn't cut it

Lately I can't look at anything — code, attention, the way people talk about AI — without seeing footpaths. Every shortcut wears a groove, every groove becomes the obvious route, and pretty soon nobody remembers the meadow was ever there. I've been a ranger long enough to know erosion is just gravity being patient, but I didn't expect to start hearing it in conversations that never mention dirt.