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I hate to sound like Baba Vanga

But we’re approaching some weird dystopian nightmare, a lot quicker than we anticipated.

And as much as I sound like I’m beating a dead horse about AI.

I’m going to have to keep beating it.

In the last few months, studies are finally getting released into public about the dangers of continuous use of all of these loved LLM’s.

Like I’ve said in the past before. I’m not against the tech as a whole. I’m just against the generative side of it, especially from the lovely grey area these massive tech companies think they can operate from without repercussions… (That’s a whole series of emails in itself though) because they haven’t taken into consideration the cognitive destruction these tools are having on people and society as a whole.

Although if you look at it from a wild angle. What most people are doing with it all, is pushing out low quality and low effort content at scale.

That same low quality and low effort content is getting converted into shorter form content littered across social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

And because human impulse control is non existent when you’re addicted to social media, your brain essentially takes a lot that low quality and low effort content and latches on to it.

But here’s where it gets worse though:

“A University of Cambridge study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that watching 2+ hours of TikTok/Instagram Reels daily reduces sustained attention by 15-20% and causes prefrontal cortex changes resembling early dementia, due to dopamine driven algorithms.”

So what happens when the amplification of dopamine hits an all time high?

It slowly erodes your ability to think, reason and regulate your emotions.

So now you’re seeing an even younger generation become even more anti social, more aggressive and have even less impulse control, which as they age, will affect them as adults later on in life.

And so where does this cycle end? Well, it doesn’t.

Big tech and marketing bros can’t conceptualise the correct education relating to the AI tech, because it’ll do one of two things (Probably both)

It’ll show people that Big tech are grifting shit weasles who only care about money at the cost of human labour, while destroying humanity at its base.

It’ll show the marketing bros that they don’t really know anything at all and again, are only gargling on the shiny AI balls of Big tech for monetary reasons, not because they care about their customers/clients etc.

So we hover in this very interesting dichotomy where you have people who can see the potential of genuine AI and its use cases…

Versus the people who are so blindly ignorant of the tech that once they become disillusioned to it all, they’ll cry that they’ve been duped and scammed and whatever else.

I’m at a point where it’s hard to keep fighting the good fight, cause people are just willfuly ignorant about it all and would rather do the whole ostrich sticking their head in the sand move to avoid danger than peak into the twisted dystopian nightmare that is unfolding.

Guess I’m gonna have to pull a Jared Leto. Build an in person cult, go live on an island and go back to the days where we just hung out in caves and painted on walls.

What’s your thoughts on all of this? Happy that the AI overlords are taking over the world or are you as fatigued about AI this and that being forced down our throats in everything we do?

Stephen Walker.

P.S. A fun little study you can read on all of this which echoes all of this and more. 22 pages of sauce.

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

“Take the action and the insight follows.” – Anne Lamott

For the first time in 3 years, I’m creating original content for YouTube again.

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I’m only three videos in, but the learning has come quickly.

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So I thought I’d share a few of my biggest insights, today…

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Many of which apply beyond YouTube:

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To business, content creation, and even life in general.

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Let’s jump in.

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1. Specific beats general.

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The channel has been stuck for the past few years, because I’ve treated it like a public Dropbox:

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Posting whatever I want, with no regard for strategy.

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Sometimes business, sometimes relationships, sometimes personal development, sometimes angry rants about hustle-bro culture that very few people ever hear because…

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…YT has no idea who my audience is.

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And that’s my fault, because I’ve been way, way too general with the content I post.

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The lesson:

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Keep content in one specific lane, for one specific person.

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It’s not quite as fun, but those are the laws of the jungle on YT.

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2. Less perfect, more organic.

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Maybe this is just the awkwardness of watching myself speak on camera.

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(or the fact that I haven’t done it in ~3 years)

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But our last three videos — where I’m speaking to a camera, rather than a live audience — feel a bit too…

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Performative?

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That’s probably not the right word, but I know my speaking isn’t as natural as it could be.

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My aim is to make these talks feel like a conversation between friends.

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Less perfect, more casual & organic.

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Work in progress.

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3. Make content only I can make.

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Initially, I felt an impulse to study what’s working for similar channels, and speak about similar topics (in my own way).

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That’s what basically everyone does, because it works.

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But it’s not the only strategy that works.

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And there are topics nobody else in the world (that I’m aware of) can speak about — or even knows about.

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Topics like…

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Spiral Dynamics for entrepreneurship
Applying the TCM 5 element system to business
Advanced internal practices for entrepreneurs
Unlocking higher intelligence for business
Founder psychology & thinking systems
Mastering the nervous system for business performance
Advanced communication & persuasion
Plant medicine for entrepreneurs
Business as a spiritual path

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…And many, many more that are already cooking in my Notion dashboard.

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I have no idea how these will “perform.”

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(depends how I package them, I guess)

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But I do know I want them to exist.

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And I don’t know who else is going to create them, if not me.

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Let me know if anything on that list jumps out to you; if there’s enough interest I’ll move it higher in the cue.

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4. Start strong — and finish strong.

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The first ~20 seconds of each video is obviously important.

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But so is leaving on a high-note, because that’s what viewers remember after the video is over.

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(think of a first date; your first and last impression are the moments that stand out in the other person’s mind)

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So I’m going to try planning my closing “punchline” for each video ahead of time.

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(I really liked how the close turned out in this week’s talk — lemme know what you think)

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5. Action really does create clarity.

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I know it’s a bit cliché, but damn is it true.

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And making content over the past few weeks has been a real-time reminder of how true it is.

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I’ve learned more in the process of creating these three videos than I have in all my hours of:

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Thinking about making content
Planning to make content
Watching content about making content
Watching myself plan to think about making content

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Combined.

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It’s not surprising, but it’s worth remembering:

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Nothing — nothing — replaces direct experience.

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There’s probably more to share, but this is getting a bit long.

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Lemme if any of these landed for you.

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And…

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​If You’re An Entrepreneur In Your 20s, Watch This.​

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• T

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P.S. Quick reminder in case you missed it:

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I created a list of must-read books for 20-30 year old entrepreneurs.

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If you’d like it, comment “book list” under the video and we’ll send it over.

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(if you don’t receive it for some reason, just reply to this email)

“The more you do things that are natural to you, the less competition you have.” – Naval Ravikant

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

If you’re having one of those days.

Go give Ari some love.

I’m a massive lover of music, especially old school hip hop.

What Ari does is, he goes around NY creating live beats and the musicians that pop up to spit a few bars or drop a few verses are just unreal.

It’s insane to think that there are musicians of that calibre just walking among us.

What makes this even more beautiful though is how it brings us all together.

There’s enough me me me content out there. There’s enough negativity being rammed down our throats in the news and every other social media platform.

If we consume too much of it. We end up flying off the rails mentally.

So again, if you’re having one of those days or even weeks.

Go give Ari some love.

Before you know it, you’ll be binging all of the content.

Stephen Walker.

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

So I’ve been scooping around some of my notebooks where I’ve studied some classic works and poems.

Dante missed one when he mapped out the circles of hell.

He couldn’t have predicted the 10th circle…

The one we’re all being dragged into as we barrel toward 2026.

Welcome to the circle of AI marketing horseshit.

This is where humanity goes to die in a sea of uncanny valley bullshit.

This is where people who’ve never written a genuine sentence in their lives suddenly become “content creators” because they learned to prompt engineer their way to mediocrity.

Where every email, every post, every piece of “creative” work feels like it was churned out by the same soulless robo-rithm, optimised for engagement but devoid of any actual human fingerprints.

They’re all gargling on the balls of AI-Jesus, claiming skills they don’t possess, flooding the world with content that technically functions but feels as emotionally satisfying as eating cardboard. (I’ve tried eating carboard and yeah, it’s not fun or tasty)

Everything sounds the same. Everything feels manufactured. Everything lacks the beautiful imperfection that makes writing actually worth reading.

The 10th circle is essentially a place where heavily optimised copy that hits all the right psychological triggers lands, but has no pulse, no blood. No nothing at all.

But you can escape it in 2026…

Write true to yourself. Be raw. Be open. Be broken. Show the world all your warts and scars and fuck ups because that’s what matters and that’s where the real connections are formed.

Your humanity is your competitive advantage right now.

Your poetry, your bare naked soul, your willingness to bleed on the page. These are the things that AI can’t replicate, no matter how sophisticated it becomes.

Show up even when you want to give up. Even when you feel like crawling six feet underground and staying there. Show up especially then, because that’s when your writing has weight, when it carries the full burden of being human.

People don’t want perfect. They want real.

They want to be part of a world that feels lived in, not generated like some minecraft world.

They want to be indoctrinated into something genuine, something that pulses with actual blood instead of boring 1’s and 0’s.

I definitely don’t want to drown in that 10th circle and I’m sure as hell certain you don’t want to either.

The only way out is to be human.

That’s it.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I like to make people read interesting ideas and so if you’ve never read Inferno, Canto I by Dante Alighieri. Skip on over with this incredibly long link…

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

This is a quick one today.

So remember this…

Writing can be an escape. Writing can be an act of optimism. Writing can be an act of resistance. Writing can be rage, spite, power. It can be the way out, or the way in. Stories have meaning. Your stories matter. Your art matters.

It’s tough out there if you’re the one sitting behind the keyboard and banging away endlessly at something that doesn’t feel like taking shape just yet.

We need your art, your soul and everything else in between.

As the world seems to become colder every day, this is the time for you to keep going.

Whether you’re running on tight deadlines for some ad copy that needs to go live or if you’re struggling to kill off a character in a story you’re writing…

You just need to keep going.

And if you want escape for a little moment and figure out this craft a little more…

On Writing by Charles Bukowski might be able to rip you out of the looming burnout you might be feeling.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you have some book recommendations you’ve loved lately, please hit me up and share them with me.

If you’re not diggin’ these tasty little emails anymore you can hit the unsubscribe button right here >>> unsubscribe

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