Hey Everyone - I have some exciting stuff this week to help you thrive in the AI age.

Let’s dive in.

As AI generated text, images, and video get indistinguishably close to reality, something strange is starting to happen. The more digital content floods our feeds, the less we trust anything we see online. When every photo might be AI and every opinion might be automated, the foundation of digital community begins to crack. In a world like that, the old idea of Dunbar’s number starts to look surprisingly relevant again.

Dunbar’s number suggests that humans can only maintain meaningful relationships with up to about 150 people. For most of modern internet culture, that idea felt outdated. We tried to replace it with massive online audiences, global group chats, and digital tribes of thousands. But the bigger these digital circles get, the more likely they are to fracture. In a globalized world people develop wildly different value systems shaped by their own experiences. Both sides can feel completely correct, yet the gap in values becomes the source of endless conflict.

That is why I believe we will rely far more on local communities in the AI age. When reality itself becomes harder to verify, the only trust that matters is the kind you build face to face. A local community creates aligned incentives. Shared environment creates shared values. The people around you are the ones who will matter when digital noise becomes infinite. And if you keep that community under Dunbar’s number, you get something rare. You get a group small enough to stay mission aligned. Anyone who has worked at a startup understands this. When the team is under 150, everyone rows in the same direction. Once it scales beyond that, people start optimizing for promotions rather than the mission.

So what do you do about it? Start by identifying your 150. Who are the people you would trust in real life, not just online. Who are the people you would actually want to live near. Who are the ones whose values you want to grow with. Then ask a simpler question. What actions can you take that serve your smaller circles rather than the abstract global audience. Maybe that is hosting a dinner each month, joining or creating a local club, or working with neighbors on something that improves the place you actually live.

In the AI era the world gets noisier, but your circle can get clearer. Trust is becoming the most valuable asset. Dunbar’s number is not a limitation. It is a strategy.

The number one thing I’ve been most obsessed with right now is Newsletters. I’m launching this one as well as a local one (Austin).

As I’ve beaten to death in this newsletter, I think local communities will grow in importance over the next few years. I’m trying to get way ahead of that curve with newsletters and other in person events.

I can go more in depth into this in future segments if you’re interested. Let me know!

Things I Learned

Content I Made

While there will be plenty of technical skills I recommend learning, this week is focused on an old school one: Cooking.

One of the single best ways to bring people together is to learn to cook. You just need to cook one thing and be good at it. I personally like to make pizza, but there is a kinda steep learning curve for that.

A lower barrier to entry for cooking is making a nice fruit crumble. These are a hit almost everywhere I go. My family actually forced me to make 6 of these while I was home. This is the recipe I use, but you can basically choose any fruit you want to make it your own.

If people know you are cooking or will bring food, they basically invite you to everything. This is probably the only reason I have adult friends.

Recipe: https://www.recipetineats.com/apple-crumble/