Humans

Throughout this week’s edition, a number of Gen Z trends are clear:

• IRL (in real life connections) are back.


• Health is a major focus. Fewer alcoholic drinks and healthier alternatives.


• Home ownership is becoming less important.


• 93% hope to have long-term relationships.


• Optimistic about the economy right now.


• Purchasing from sustainability-focused brand

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Sometimes the shticks work together. Other times they clash in a way that makes someone even more compelling. Elon Musk literally builds rockets while being a pot stirrer on X. Marc Andreessen invests billions while propagating silly memes. One keeps them credible, the other on people’s minds.

Even the smartest people are dumb most of the time. This is because cognition is computationally costly, so the brain must ration rationality.

The first shtick gets you noticed. It’s usually a job, a core skill, something that makes you credible, competent, and useful. Alone, though, it’s one-dimensional.

The second shtick is the one that keeps you interesting. It’s the twist, the unexpected dimension that makes you versatile, memorable, harder to pin down.

Together, they balance you: you’... See more

As much as we know about how crazy, weird, talented, and insightful people can be, we are blind to perhaps 99.99999999% of it. The most prolific over-sharers disclose maybe a thousandth of one percent of what they’ve been through and what they’re thinking.

The other thing: your shticks have to be visible, else they might as well not exist. And if you don’t define them yourself, the world will do it for you. When attention is currency and visibility is constant, your shticks are your anchors.

Earlier generations were bound by family, geographic location, and their physical being. People today face few limits on their ability to explore, express, and manifest distinct identities. But our approaches are shaped by the platforms and algorithms we identiate through.

The spaces previous generations filled with close human relationships we fill... See more