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With all of the AI fuckery being forced into our faces over the last few years.

Trust from a consumer point of view is waaaay down. I mean down down. Like lower than the lowest limbo stick down or whatever the professional term for it is called.

Anyways. So towards the back end of 2025 when I was recovering from being sick. I came across an ad on FB and it looked pretty damn convincing. Quality information that I’d like to buy so I can level up some concepts I was learning and in turn, I’d also be able to build something cool that’ll win back a lot more time for me.

As soon as the first payment went through and the product was delivered. I KNEW it was gonna be an absolute suck fest. The customer service email delivered the product via some really shitty Gmail email address. The documents were riddled with typos and definitely some AI pasted bullshit.

The thing is. Everything looked professional on the website side of things. Incredibly convincing and spot on, but the back end delivery and results were just absolutely ass.

Don’t get me started on the customer services and whatever else. All I can say is that paying £1000 for this was definitely not on the cards. If it was a neatly typed up Google docs delivered all pretty then hell yeah I’d pay the price, but this was just meh.

The point is though. Going into 2026…

Only seek quality.

Quality products, services, food, friendships etc.

2026 is the year or quality.

That’s it.

And in prime fashion I’ll be starting the year off with a bit of AI bullying…

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Here is the AI bullying and honestly it’s hilarious that this is happening in every aspect of “The real world” – I honestly think we live in a simulation atm…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Hell yeah…

New year.

Same doomscroll impulse sneaking up and trying to drag you under…

I get it.

You open your phone and it’s immediate chaos again. I mean we’re only 6 days in and things look like they’re starting off wild.

The news alerts are now screaming about whatever fresh hell just dropped (Venezuela anyone?)

The rage merchants are out in full swing trying to monetise your anxiety.

I’m sure the social media platforms have tightened up their algorithm fed catastrophe porn, which is designed to keep you paralysed and clicking to a new level ready for this year.

Although, I’m not saying ignore the world.

But I am saying this with my whole chest and keyboard.

You don’t owe the news cycle your entire nervous system.

2026 can be different.

Not because the world suddenly became less of a shitshow. It didn’t.

Step 1 is to turn the news off completely…

Not forever. Just enough to remember what your own thoughts sound like when they’re not drowned out by someone else’s manufactured outrage.

Check in once a day if you need to. Then close the tab. Delete the app. Whatever it takes.

The world will keep spinning. The crises will still be there. But you’ll actually have the mental bandwidth to do something useful instead of drowning in ambient panic.

And then? Build something.

Your email list. Your audience. That hobby you keep saying you’ll get back to. The business idea living rent free in your head.

Whatever it is. Just start the damn thing.

Not because hustle culture says you should. Not because some LinkedIn motivational vampire told you to “rise and grind.”

Cause like I’ve said in previous emails: Creation is the antidote to consumption.

When you’re building something even if it’s something just for you.

You’re not stuck in passive mode anymore. Even though it’s fun to watch the world burn.

You’re making something new and new shit is cool.

And believe it or not. That’s the type of thing that matters.

Remember this: The negativity wants you to suck…

It wants you scrolling, seething, sharing the latest nightmare because engagement is currency and your outrage pays someone else’s rent.

Fuck that.

Take that energy and redirect it. Channel it into something that compounds. Things like your writing, your craft, your weird little corner of the internet where people actually give a shit about what you’re doing.

Grow your list. I’d rather have a handful of people who want to hear from me instead of them also getting screwed by all of the noise.

The trick is to feed your audience. Not slop. Not recycled takes, but the stuff only you can say in the way only you can say it.

Work on your hobby. The thing that makes you feel like yourself again.

Build your business. Even if it’s just a side thing. Even if it starts messy.

And don’t allow any of those woo woo shit lords tell you that you’re being “Toxically positive!”

I’m not telling you to manifest abundance or whatever the wellness grifters are selling this week.

I’m saying the world is dark enough without you volunteering to be a full time documentarian of its collapse.

You can care about things and still protect your energy.

You can stay informed without being consumed.

And you can spend 2026 building instead of just bearing witness.

So yeah. Start here.

Less doomscrolling. More creating.

Less panic. More progress.

The news will still be there tomorrow.

The thing you’ve neglected last year won’t build itself.

So before I vanish off to bed, I’m telling you to;

Get after it.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you built something in 2025 that you’re proud of, even something small. Reply and tell me about it. I want to know what you made when the world tried to convince you to just scroll instead and get sucked into the latest TikTok trend…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I think my brain must’ve collapsed cause I couldn’t even math properly yesterday.

Although I did get some interesting responses to the previous email and it looks like you enjoy these types of write ups.

So without further ado. The next 8, not 7 and how we can re-frame and flip these “laws” for our own creative gain…

3) Gullibility.

Scepticism should be framed as empowerment. Where it’s usually framed as cyncism.

Side by side comparisons might look like this… “Here’s the narrative / here’s what’s missing”

This is how you can deconstruct persuasion techniques used in ads, politics, and trends so you can show how belief is engineered. This way you can help people trust themselves more and not authorities less out of paranoia.

4) Hysterical

Emotional regulation can be used as form of rebellion.

If you can normalise calm, slowness, reflection.

Think long form content in a shortform world. Art that invites pause rather than reaction (The trance state I mentioned in 4 from the previous email)

You’d name emotions precisely (anger ≠ fear ≠ grief) This will help interrupt the outrage economy by modelling grounded presence, which is easier said than done.

5) Anxious

If we flip it around. It’s a means to be safe. You’ll create emotional refuge. Which means you’ll create predictable rhythms in content. There will be reassurance without false positivity (Which we saw a lot of in 2025) and even if it means naming shared anxieties without amplifying them, It’ll lower baseline anxiety so people can think and choose more freely and feel connected to you and you work because you are like them.

6) Hedonism

This is a tough one because you have to redefine pleasure as nourishment where a lot of our hedonistic traits make a beeline for escape/escapism.

This is where you can showcase slow joy. Like the craft of what you do, writing, painting, making music etc, nature, conversation, embodiment as a whole.

We’d also look at talking openly about addiction cycles without moralising, cause we’ve all been trapped in a place where we allow hedonistic traits to consume us. Instead of making people feel singled out. We’re collectively in this together.

Similar to how you might’ve seen a few spiritual guru’s on Twitter or Instagram aestheticise rest. They don’t do a good job of tackling excess.

This would help people notice when pleasure is medicine vs avoidance. (even though we want to avoid a lot of things and/or people in general lol)

7) Illusion of power

Highlight actual spheres of influence. Personal boundaries. Attention as a finite resource.

We’d look at our own community scale action over grand narratives that everyone else wants us to pursue.

Replace abstract “power” with lived autonomy.

8) Faith in priesthoods

Now religion and philosophy or any fait is a tough nut to crack but if we do believe or follow something specific. If we’re able to demystify it without nihilism, we’ll be on to a winner.

It basically means translating “expert knowledge” into human language. as an example: “Here’s what they don’t explain”

This is where it invites dialogue (Which we never see because of the outrage economy) although framing it this way won’t make it feel like you’re looking for obedience. (You see this mass obedience level of shit in the political space. If you don’t follow X leaning then you’re a heretic. That shit stops growth in every aspect) So if you apply this to any form of faith, religion or world view. At least if those conversations come up. You can connect with the person without coming across as a crazy person.

This will restore discernment without collapsing into anti intellectualism.

9) Scapegoating

From a creative pov this is pretty easy. It’s all about sharing and creating stories that break binary thinking. Yes you’ll have to show how blame simplifies pain but you can make “both/and” emotionally compelling, which will replace moral superiority with shared responsibility.

10) Rewards & punishments

You can expose how incentive systems shape behaviour. Frame it like “Notice what this system rewards”

Highlight people choosing integrity over advantage, which you see a lot of in the online space, like “You have to post 15x a day on Facebook AND Twitter or your audience will forget about you.” (Bullshit) So you can celebrate refusal, rest, opting out of whole industries or spaces as a whole. (I’ve done it and I know of others who have done it too. You don’t have to stay on a platform and become a performative monkey for whatever algorithm is pushing xyz. I’ve ejected myself out of the copywriting space because it’s become so incestuous with its peacocking and chest beating and I’ve found my people)

It’ll help people distinguish survival strategies from values in the grand scheme of things but this all comes down to just you taking it slow to re-frame everything.

Hopefully this all made sense. Or at least gave you a different insight into what makes us magically and weirdly human.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Here’s the link again for the “Altering Individual Identity” page, in case you missed it or decided it was a good idea not to read yesterday’s whole email…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Who said we were gonna ease into 2026?

So we’re gonna riff on everyone’s favourite topic, which is cults and their fun little practices and dogmas.

In order to identify a cult you need to know that all of them worship death secretly. They are all deeply evil. However, this evil is hidden from the outside world.

A front of respectability and high moral authority is worn as a mask. Behind every evil act, a high moral purpose is feigned. This is simply the adoption of the principle of “opposite world”

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of “opposite world” google “Altering Individual Identity: a Cultic Approach in MKO 2”

Anyways.

There’s also a slight inversion on cult tactics.

Cults may also be identified by their attack on sane, healthy, moral based value systems. To a psychopath up is down, good is evil and evil good. Abusive behaviour is normalised. Sadism is a sign of “being tough”.

A cult is a protection racket. They’ll “take care” of you, in the sense that the Mafia might use that phrase. Is it good or bad? Well, if you look back at old mob boss times…

You’ll find your answer.

But here’s the fun stuff and I can’t remember where I read and researched it.

Here’s the notes…

All cults have a repetitive superstructural “religion” of control. They all possess a contemptuous view of humans and there’s this theory that us humans are self domesticated.

And so there are 10 laws of domesticated humans…

1. Cowardice. The domesticated human is above all a grovelling coward. Behind every persuasive act, every recommendation, is a veiled threat of sheer brute force if domesticated humans were to foolishly yearn for any real freedom.
2. Stupidity. The domesticated human is taught to be only as intelligent as is necessary to carry out its allotted task in the social hierarchy/economy.
3. Gullible. Linked to high suggestibility is gullibility. That is, the placing of trust in certain individuals who have done nothing to demonstrate that such trust is deserved, or even a sane thing to do. Naivety is a must. Domesticated humans must never be allowed to grow up, but must be treated as children, forever. This is known as “infantilisation”.
4. Hysterical. Most domesticated humans are incapable of rational thought. They process all decision making through their emotions. Their current emotional state is their sole guide to living. That is to say, domesticated humans are in an ongoing pathological trance state.
5. Anxious. From early childhood, most domesticated humans are in a low level state of anxiety. This anxiety makes them miserable and easy to control. Temporary pleasure (a brief absence of anxiety-pain) may be awarded to domesticated humans who please those who supply their ability to achieve their most basic means of survival. If they are ‘bad’, their anxiety levels can be increased, easily.
6. Hedonism. Because domesticated humans dislike their almost constant state of anxiety, they seek refuge in hedonistic excess. This relieves them for as long as they are absorbed in the hedonistic pursuit of choice (addiction). Sex, so called recreational drugs, food, alcohol, over watching TV, films, excessively playing computer games etc.
7. The illusion of power. All domesticated humans believe they have a degree of control over their lives; the fact is they don’t, because they abdicated their real power to their owners. Domesticated humans do have tremendous power, which they never use. This was even written about by Tacitus.
8. Faith in priesthoods. From ancient times all humans have been manipulated by those who claim knowledge of the “mysteries”. That is, a body of knowledge only known to “the priesthood”, that must be followed uncritically by the “profane”. For fear of x, y, z.
9. Scapegoating. All mystery religions require a scapegoat. That is, a group of people (heretics) upon whom all of society’s ills may be blamed. What the heretics believe and who they are is irrelevant and constantly changing. It is the arbitrary nature of such demonisation which makes the technique so effective. Anxiety is kept high, because anyone could be next in line for the chop. Domesticated humans love scapegoating, it allows them to relinquish all sense of personal responsibility. They get to feel superior to others, if only briefly. This temporary feeling of “feeling good about oneself” is highly addictive to people with usually low self worth.
10. Rewards and punishments. Law has nothing to do with morality or conscience. It has everything to do with obedience. Laws may be wholly immoral and nonsensical. In fact it is best if they are; this increases anxiety and causes no end of physical and mental health problems, which disable the domesticated humans, making them far less likely to rebel. All means of getting essential human needs met, such as food, shelter, and companionship etc. can only be realised if “cult law” is followed. In any human herd there are psychopaths, you simply create a large enough gang of them, train them in rudimentary herd management, give them devices that cause physical harm, and let them hunt “troublemakers”. Quite simple.

Personally I believe these are not truths about what people are. They are descriptions of what prolonged fear, hierarchy, and trauma can do to people.

If we change the conditions, people change.

So how do we re-frame this for good in a marketing and creative/artist sense?

Courage is situational. “Cowardice” is often learned helplessness.

In a creative sense. We need Art that documents ordinary acts of quiet courage. Stories of people who changed when conditions changed. Visual metaphors: cages with open doors no one notices… That goal then would be to help people recognise that fear ≠ character flaw. Courage grows in safety. And safety hasn’t been around properly in the last few years because of all the bullshit going on in the world/news etc.

We flip Stupidity to Undereducation is political. Make intelligence feel accessible and pleasurable. Break complex ideas into beautiful, shareable formats. Teach critical thinking without condescension. Celebrate curiosity over credentials. Reverse shame around “not knowing” and make learning contagious…

I know this is started to become a meaty long email. I’ve also touched on how to flip points 1 and 2 for good in a creative sense.

If you found this interesting. Let me know and I’ll do a part two that finishes off the re-frame of the last 7 and how we can use it for good as an artist/creative.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Here’s the link for “Altering Individual Identity: a Cultic Approach in MKO 2” cause google can be an ass sometimes and spit out random links to AI generated bullshit.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Back in 1978. Gary Thuerk inadvertently created email marketing as we know it today.

I mean he sent one email to 393 people and did over $13 million in sales, which is wild.

If you dig back into the internets early days you’ll find ARPANET was what all the cool kids were working on, and by cool, I mean nerds and It was a government funded network that connected universities and military research labs across the country…

Crazy thing is, back then only about 2,600 people on the earth had access to it and a guy named Gary Thuerk was one of them.

He was a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corporation working out of their Boston office.

Gary needed to sell a new line of computers to potential customers on the West Coast, but they were 3,000 miles away.

And like me, the thought of making 393 individual phone calls sounded absolutely awful (visiting each in person would even worse)

So he grabbed a paper directory and started highlighting names in yellow.

Then he had his colleague type all 393 email addresses into the system one by one while he wrote one message inviting everyone to an in person event.

When he hit send it became the first mass marketing email in history. And just like most marketing emails sent today, the people receiving weren’t fans. ARPANET was supposed to be used for official government business only. An official from the Defense Department called Gary’s message a “flagrant violation” of network policy…

He also got in serious trouble with leadership and was forced to promise he would never do it again. But the crazy thing is the email actually worked…

The email went on to generate over $13 million in computer sales, which roughly works out to roughly $33,000 per recipient from a single email that was sent before the internet even existed.

So our boy Gary Thuerk now holds a Guinness World Record for sending the world’s oldest spam email and is known as the “Father of Spam” in marketing circles. You can thank Gary for all those marketing emails you get in your inbox each and every day. Especially the shitty ones where they try and sell you penis pills and crypto shit coins.

But off the back of that. When you do email right. You build an unwavering following of people who dig what you do, share and sell.

And so it is, like every year for the past how many years…

Email and email marketing is king.

So going into 2026. If you’re not building an email list and emailing it daily. You’re going to be missing out.

So if I can give you any advice going into 2026…

It’s build yo’ damn email list.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Here’s proof that it’s legit and your favourite email marketer who says xyz is first is lying. Gary is the man.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

That’s right.

Get that Big Hairy Audacious Goal set down on paper so that it can stare you in the face every day while you make it happen.

Jim Collins coined the term and stretched it out over the course of 10-30 years. I mean that’s some next level visionary stuff you’d see someone like Elon Musk write about on the ol’ Twitters…

Although I thought about condensing the 10-30 years down to 1-3 years. Which is wild but if you are willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for those 1-3 short years, you know you’ll kick it’s ass and drill down fully to realise it all.

Now as much as I’ve said I’m going to write more and publish more and even had conversations about creating “things” to sell to you which contain deeper thoughts and or words.

My Big Hair Audacious Goal is to hit £500k collected via legally moving money around the markets (Aka long/short term trading)

It’s one of those things that I’ve never really spoken about cause a lot of marketers ruined that whole industry back in 2017/18 but hey ho. Things only change if you make the change.

So that’s it really.

Write more. Sell things and use the market to pull out an obscene amount of money.

And the woo woo crowd will always be like “But why do you wanna do that?”

Honestly. I don’t care about money. To me it’s like a video game. It’s a high score at the end of the day and if I can get that and more pulled out of the market. I can give it away and help others do more in life.

I’ve never been keen on the whole gatekeeping of information. Even if I’ve spent years learning/studying and whatever. We’re all here to live our best lives and unfortunately, some people are stuck. Even if it’s not their own fault.

I’ve come from nothing. Built up and lost it all and have luckily managed to keep myself on the straight and narrow. So at the end of the day, if I can help a handful of people kick ass and reclaim their lives. That’s my end goal.

Nothing too massive. Just something right for what I feel is right to spread out into the world.

Do I know how I’m gonna achieve half of it? Hell no.

But I’ve written it down on paper and I’ll work on it until it manifests into reality.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Oh boy. 2025 was a wild year.

And I’m glad we’ve finally dragged it to the back of the dusty ol’ shed, put it on its knees and given it the Mozambique drill. 3 bangs and its gone.

So what does 2026 have in store for us?

Is it the same “New year, new me” that we see pass into the world every year, only to be given up around 19 days into the new year?

I don’t think so. 2025 was different. It pushed a lot of people beyond their breaking point and in some cases, straight down into rock bottom. Mentally, physically and spiritually we were tested.

But we made it out alive.

So what does this mean?

Those silent goals and transitions we’ve all been making. This year it’s time to be loud about it. It’s time to dial it in and focus, cause change is good and pushing us to the next level of where we want to be, will see us truly succeed.

Some of us have books and stories to write or paintings and art to get out into the world and some of us are just venturing into the creative world, even with AI kicking at the door and wanting to be let in. Yet everyone I know is sticking true to themselves.

And that’s the real beauty of being a human. Write who you are, fuck trends, get weird, and especially this year, fuck the machine.

After a little break to close out the year and also not being sick anymore (Although I haven’t had heating and hot water since the 25th of December lol) I’ve made it out on the other side and I’m ready to kick 2026’s ass.

I’ll be writing and publishing more (Picking up an old pen name again)

I’ll be rejecting clients who have crawled back to me after taking on lesser individuals who made AI their whole personality, only to destroy their reputations…

I’ll be sitting strong on the financial charts (If you’ve seen anything in the news over Gold/Silver and the US Dollar) you know big things are coming economically and financially in 2026.

And I’ll be taking care of my health a little more this year as the last month-ish has just shown how bad it can get. (Although I do have some interesting psychological theories surrounding it too)

Other than that. I’m glad to be back. I’m grateful to still be a live and I’m ready for 2026.

I hope you’ve all been well and are also going make 2026 your bitch.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you have any ideas, goals etc. Let me know. I’m always interested in hearing the story surrounding it.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom