The Inspiration Economy
All that remains.
Good morning…
What happens when the machines can build anything you want? What comes next?
I was chatting with a fellow chronic vibe coder yesterday. Let’s call him the “Coffee Guy.” He was frustrated with the SaaS options available to manage his coffee shops. He wanted something bespoke to handle the daily grind — a system that could elegantly bridge inventory, point-of-sale, customer management, and accounting. Integrating a stack of off-the-shelf tools was proving to be a costly pain.
So, over the past few weeks, he just built his own. He describe the process as exhilarating. I could relate. But, it was something else he shared that stuck with me.
Coffee Guy said that once the machines can build anything you can dream up, the only vital thing left for humans is the inspiration. Not the how, but the why and the what. He said the important part will be picking up a book, going for a walk, doing whatever you need to do to get inspired. Do this well and you just might manifest something people will use and like. That’s what Coffee Guy said.
This seems right. If you’ve read this newsletter recently, you know I’ve been blown away by what a semi-technical old fuck like me can build now. I’ve spent thirty years cajoling engineers and designers to build stuff. Now, I can close the loop myself, and it’s electrifying. But… you still need a good idea.
A couple of weeks ago I built a media aggregation machine — my own authenticated personal media interface for my media sources, newsletters, etc. It’s an obvious and utilitarian use case. Now I rely on it daily. That’s a win.
My next project was the Hot Take Machine. Originally I just wanted a place to pin ideas and research them. Brian Morrissey suggested that I build something to “steelman” ideas. It turned into www.bighottake.com. It’s a place to add “takes”, validate them and browse others. I guess that makes it a shitty Twitter.
The machine itself isn’t what I love, it’s what the process is teaching me about why things work.
Media works when it consistently gives people something they need to know, feel, become, or belong to. Platforms are different. They work when they make it effortless and habitual to satisfy many of those needs in one place. They are, at least at the start, entirely about utility.
Big Hot Take doesn’t do either well enough — certainly not better than the alternatives that exist today. Trying to build a platform that does what other platforms do, just in a slightly different way, is a tough brief. The energy required to shift human habits and break established network effects is immense. Elon understood that; it’s why he bought Twitter instead of building it from scratch. Even after he kicked the shit out of it, the network remains vital.
Anyway, I’ve learned a ton—about feeds, algorithms, scoring, APIs, system stability and the psychology of why we use the things we use. Now we are back at the hard part: the inspiration, the idea, the spark.
In a world of infinite, effortless code, you win or lose on the idea. The AI economy will inevitably do more to help people with this part. Especially because we will have way more time to reflect once machines do all of the work. Except for the chronic, restless types that can’t get enough of that building feeling and want desperately to hold their place on top of these powerful machines.
Last night, I took the dog for a walk and thought of something new. I might see if I can build it.
Pod 179: The Great Media Reorientation
Out FRIDAY 6 AM EST Apple | Spotify | Substack
Traffic is out, audience focus is in. B2B is a refuge; see the Acquired ad rates. The Boston Globe’s TikTok star Emily Sweeney proves a Dorchester accent is leverage when the internet has flattened everything. The next newsroom brawl will be over AI use. Political figures now have to be expert content creators. Even geopolitics aren’t immune: Iran is beating the U.S. with its AI Lego video trolling. In tech, Sam Altman lies a lot and might be a sociopath, but it could be these are required traits in his field. Vibe coding Big Hot Take has turned Troy into an AImaxxer who believes company structure will change. Finally, a hypothesis that the true emblem of American wealth is getting a boat.
Fun episode of the Acquired Podcast with guest Michael Lewis. They chat about building The Acquired business. Lewis want ads from things he loves like some underwear brand. Acquired guys: we prefer enterprise software partners. The strategy seems to be working.
The "backwater" of B2B media is officially the hottest zip code in the industry. The Acquired podcast has reportedly sold out its ad inventory through 2027, with 2028 mid-roll packages going for a cool $2.9 million. It turns out that when you stop chasing Comscore uniques and start cornering high-value niche audiences, the margins look less like publishing and more like software.
I love Mo. Calling bullshit on AI guys and why Claude Mythos is delusional.
The Dorchester Advantage
The Boston Globe has an unlikely TikTok star in Emily Sweeney, whose thick Dorchester accent sounds like a dispatch from a more local, less flattened internet. In a media environment optimized into sameness, distinctiveness has value. The accent is the brand.
Iran Has Better Meme Lords Than the State Department
Iran spent the week winning the information war with surreal AI-generated Lego videos and a better instinct for how Americans consume media than the Americans themselves. The uncomfortable truth: in 2026, diplomacy is downstream of content strategy.
Politicians Are Creators Now
Trump understands this. Mamdani understands this. Even the Pope understands this. RFK Jr. is getting a podcast. Modern politics increasingly belongs to the people who can make compelling media, not just compelling policy.
The Next Newsroom Civil War
The future newsroom fight will not be over politics. It will be over AI. Editors increasingly want speed, scale and lower costs. Reporters increasingly think AI writing sounds like it was written by a LinkedIn post that went to business school. The divide is becoming existential.
WSJ’s Emma Tucker lit the fuse when she praised Fortune’s use of AI to crank out hundreds of stories and suggested journalists who object should probably leave the business.
Artists vs. Engineers
There is a fundamental split in modern media between the Engineers (Mr. Beast, Alex Hormozi) who deconstruct the knobs to optimize retention and the Artists (Rick Rubin, Emily Sundberg) who lead with taste. The engineering mindset is winning the "build," but the earned energy still belongs to those who prioritize sensibility over spreadsheets.
Hot Tub Meet-Cutes
Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker profile of Sam Altman features a 3 a.m. meet-cute in Peter Thiel’s hot tub and a pattern of "slimy" behavior. It raises a broader question for the valley: is sociopathy a bug in AI leadership, or is it a prerequisite feature for bending light to a trillion dollar valuation?
Ambient Liberalism
Soros Fund Management is reportedly moving into Meidas Touch, the progressive YouTube powerhouse that has turned "ambient engagement" into a $40M EBITDA machine. It turns out you don’t need a literal 3 a.m. audience when you have a high-margin ad engine that dominates the feed with high-octane clips.
Want more merch to express your other multitudes? See the latest Palantir drop.
Thanks for reading. Say hello and let us know your take.