Human capital is the foundation of long-term economic growth, yet in Western democracies, it is under severe and structural strain. Education systems are faltering, producing graduates lacking core competencies, while civic discourse increasingly rewards outrage over critical thinking. Meanwhile, the rapid advancement of AI poses a double threat, displacing low- and mid-skilled jobs while demanding higher-order cognitive abilities that our current systems fail to cultivate. This erosion of “Human Intelligence” threatens our ability to inn...