I was nursing my cup of cacao this morning, letting the steam curl up as I chewed on today’s oracle casting—54, The Marrying Maiden, with its sharp warning of misfortune in undertakings, and 58, The Joyous, promising success through perseverance. It’s a tension that feels so alive as I think about the AI industry’s brutal race, the power of collective ownership in my projects, and some personal revelations on connection that landed recently. There’s a clear divide—between risky, doomed ventures and the steady joy of shared persistence. Let’s dive into this across tech, community, and life.
AI’s Dangerous Game: A Race to Nowhere
I stumbled on a new tool today—ChatLLM by Abacus.AI (take a look: https://chatllm.abacus.ai/vhk)—and it sparked thoughts about “doing nothing” with intent. AI tools are popping up like weeds, each vowing to fix some workflow or spark creativity. But here’s the hitch, and it echoes The Marrying Maiden’s caution: there’s zero loyalty here. A slicker UX shows up, and users bail instantly. Even UX isn’t a fortress—feed a rival’s interface into an AI code editor, and you’ve cloned it by morning. No moat, no barriers. It’s a race to the bottom, nastier than web scraping. If I were an investor, I’d be nowhere near this grind.
Peeking at the heavyweights—OpenAI and Anthropic (their job boards spill the beans: OpenAI and Anthropic)—they’re hiring aggressively to push LLMs into enterprise workflows across industries. That’s a warning shot for startups leaning on these models to serve big firms; they’ll just get shoved aside by the LLM giants. And the B2B hustle? It’s a slog—begging for enterprise scraps while duking it out with other startups, all under the looming threat of those AI behemoths.
It’s grim even at the top. LLM operators are torching investor cash, racing to outdo each other with bland, cookie-cutter products. Users face no switching costs—a quick prompt or code tweak, and they’re gone. It’s the airline industry reincarnated: high burn, no margins, no profit. And let’s not forget the employees at these firms—they’re training the machines that’ll replace them. They might be overpaid for now, like data scientists were a few years ago, but once the models are locked in, their roles dissolve. It’s a steamroller they’re building with their own hands. Not a place I’d want to stay long.
So where’s the perseverance, the success of The Joyous? I’m convinced it’s in dodging this middleman trap. Instead of peddling software to enterprises, use AI—and maybe robotics—to own the end consumer relationship. Displace the incumbents outright. Don’t just sell a logistics tool; become the logistics operation—warehousing, customs, compliance, the full stack. It’s a tall order, and big AI firms might hesitate to run full ops across sectors. Meanwhile, legacy enterprises are bogged down in red tape, still fumbling with AI adoption. That’s the opening for an AI-native disruptor to seize the entire value chain.
Key observation: Complexity cripples scale. Big AI can’t handle end-to-end ops everywhere, and incumbents are too sluggish. Persistence in owning a focused, complete solution might just be the joyful way forward.
Agroverse and TrueSight DAO: Collective Power Through Virality
This connects directly to my work with Agroverse.shop and TrueSight DAO. As we scale cacao distribution, I’m zeroing in on simplicity in our systems—drawing from software design with clear parameters at every handoff and defined roles for contributors. Whether you’re handling farming, logistics, or tech, everyone needs to know their part. But here’s the real magic: as a DAO, it’s not about automation sidelining people. It’s about contributors owning the value stream together. This is network effect and virality at play—leveraging personal relationships to grow the distribution network and build the automated logistics layer. Instead of being used and tossed aside like in the AI employee scenario, we’re collectively creating and sharing ownership of the value chain, displacing outdated enterprise structures. AI binds our efforts, guided by well-defined protocols and token-based economics.
Here’s the rough framework:
- Handoff Precision: Spell out expectations at each stage of the cacao chain—data, deliverables, timelines.
- Role Clarity: Keep each contributor’s scope tight, avoiding overlap.
- Collective Ownership: Through the DAO, contributors aren’t just workers—they’re owners, amplified by AI and token economics, driving virality.
This feels like the perseverance of The Joyous—building something lasting and communal, not a fleeting solo bet.
Personal Insights: Simplicity as a Bridge
On a personal level, I’ve been mulling over simplicity in connection, something I’ve grappled with before (The Wanderer’s Solitude). Yesterday, at the Jam and Toast camp, I was brewing cacao and noticed an electric piano sitting there. I started playing, and Greg Scott, the host, joined in for a jam. I’m used to intricate jazz harmonies, but Greg couldn’t keep pace, and I saw him tiring. So I scaled back—stacked two simple 1-6-2-5 progressions into a loop. Nothing complex. And just like that, he eased up. We clicked.
Reflections for the day: It wasn’t about impressing. It was about sensing where he was, meeting him there. That simplicity gave me clarity—connection often grows from ease, not intricacy.
Later, at Camp Oasis for a taco meetup hosted by Wanda, I sat by the campfire watching folks chat. Small talk—weather, food, random bits. Then it hit me: small talk isn’t about deep thoughts; it’s about sharing feelings through everyday topics. “How’s this taco?” becomes a way to tune into your own body, your own state. It’s a mirror for self-awareness, a bridge to someone else on a visceral level.
Tying It All: Shared Persistence Over Solo Risk
So, what links the oracle, the AI chaos, my DAO projects, and these personal moments? It’s the split between doomed undertakings—racing to the bottom in AI, training your own obsolescence, overcomplicating connections—and the joy of perseverance. Build end-to-end value with AI, foster collective ownership through Agroverse and TrueSight DAO with viral network effects, connect through simplicity whether it’s a basic chord loop or a campfire chat. Persistence, especially when shared, seems to be where true success and satisfaction lie.
What about you—are you caught in a risky solo venture, or finding joy in persistent, collective effort? How do you balance quick wins against building something lasting with others? I’m curious to hear.