{"id":23002,"date":"2026-07-31T17:14:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/i-cant-stop-thinking-about-the-unicontext\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:14:56","slug":"i-cant-stop-thinking-about-the-unicontext","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/i-cant-stop-thinking-about-the-unicontext\/","title":{"rendered":"I can't stop thinking about the Unicontext"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><strong>Happy Friday Storytellers, <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I spent last week<\/strong><span> <\/span><strong>doing something new: Attending a keynote speaking retreat. Ever since my new book <\/strong><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Super-Skill-Why-Storytelling-Superpower\/dp\/1632261723\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ILRDAYRWS8QH&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Nc5G9UclO0skyrx-FzjyVQ.iXsFA3yFanyGG225zAtNw3f2c_RESYibMQfV3PcT53U&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=super+skill+joe+lazer&amp;qid=1765243861&amp;sprefix=super+skill+joe+laz%2Caps%2C139&amp;sr=8-1\">Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age<\/a><span> <\/span><\/strong><\/em><strong>came out, I\u2019ve been invited to speak at a lot of conferences and internal corporate summits about how to unleash your storytelling superpowers and build deeper human connection. It\u2019s been a ton of fun telling stories to live audiences, and I realized it was time to up my game. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>We brutally workshopped each other\u2019s talks all day, and I had a breakthrough on some new material I can\u2019t wait to showcase at my favorite conference: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.contentmarketingworld.com\/?_mc=gi_lazer&amp;utm_source=speaker&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=PIP-lazer\">Content Marketing World<\/a><span>. It\u2019s a mecca for business storytellers, and I\u2019m going to be leading a session on how to develop breakthrough storytelling IP. I\u2019ll also be hosting a meetup for Storytelling Edge subscribers, if enough of you come. Please come! The agenda is incredible, with a new integrated creative summit with LIONS. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.contentmarketingworld.com\/?_mc=gi_lazer&amp;utm_source=speaker&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=PIP-lazer\">Register here<\/a><span> to get $200 off with Code Lazer200 and snag a spot before my session is full. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.contentmarketingworld.com\/?_mc=gi_lazer&amp;utm_source=speaker&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=PIP-lazer\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img can-restack\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!5UgH!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e1fe4fe-158c-48ee-affc-6e522c1f1a5d_1456x1820.webp 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!5UgH!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e1fe4fe-158c-48ee-affc-6e522c1f1a5d_1456x1820.webp 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!5UgH!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e1fe4fe-158c-48ee-affc-6e522c1f1a5d_1456x1820.webp 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!5UgH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e1fe4fe-158c-48ee-affc-6e522c1f1a5d_1456x1820.webp 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.contentmarketingworld.com\/?_mc=gi_lazer&amp;utm_source=speaker&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=PIP-lazer&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Register&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\" class=\"button-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.contentmarketingworld.com\/?_mc=gi_lazer&amp;utm_source=speaker&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=PIP-lazer\" class=\"button primary\"><span>Register<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>This week\u2019s newsletter is brought to you by Content Marketing World.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>Have you heard of the Unicontext, the new theory of everything? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What about Friction-maxxing? Or The Inauthenticity Tax?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If the answer is No but you\u2019re mildly intrigued, then you\u2019re in the right place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I\u2019m a junkie for new, interesting ideas, and so is my <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-art-of-the-zag\/id1873441245\"><span>Art of the Zag<\/span><\/a><span> <\/span><\/em><span>co-host Shane Snow. So for this week\u2019s episode of <\/span><em><span>Art of the Zag<\/span><\/em><span>, Shane and I decided to bring our typical happy-hour conversation to the masses and explore the five most interesting ideas of 2026 so far\u2014at least to us. (Props to Derek Thompson for the concept inspiration.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Download this week\u2019s episode (and subscribe on your pod platform of choice!) to get the full analysis. <\/span><strong><span>And for those who prefer to read, keep scrolling\u2014I\u2019ve broken down all five concepts just below the YouTube video.<\/span><\/strong><span> Enjoy and drop the ideas you\u2019ve been nerding out about in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026-so-far\/id1873441245?i=1000779264305\"><span>LISTEN ON APPLE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe data-attrs=\"{&quot;image&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/i.scdn.co\/image\/ab6765630000ba8a929d88c1b532421f57f99528&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;The 5 Most Interesting Ideas of 2026 So Far&quot;,&quot;subtitle&quot;:&quot;Joe Lazer and Shane Snow&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Episode&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4WRWwjpurPaaym4epQ16f8&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;noScroll&quot;:false}\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/4WRWwjpurPaaym4epQ16f8\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component-name=\"Spotify2ToDOM\" class=\"spotify-wrap podcast\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"youtube2-tXbkInWG0LI\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;tXbkInWG0LI&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"Youtube2ToDOM\" class=\"youtube-wrap\">\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/tXbkInWG0LI?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowautoplay=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"728\" height=\"409\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Fifteen years ago, I realized for the first time that tech moguls have a truly bizarre understanding of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2011, Mark Zuckerberg introduced \u201cfriction-less sharing\u201d on Facebook, which remains one of the most batshit crazy features of the past decade. Suddenly, Facebook would automatically share EVERYTHING you read and listened to on your Facebook feed. (<\/span><em><span>\u201cJoe read 27 signs you might have ADHD on Buzzfeed when he was supposed to be working!\u201d<\/span><\/em><span>) Zuck called it \u201creal-time serendipity in a friction-less experience.\u201d Users called it creepy and violating. Privacy groups demanded an FTC violation. I still remember the horror when I realized that Facebook had revealed that I\u2019d just listened to Taio Cruz\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Dynamite <\/span><\/em><span>37 straight times on repeat. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img can-restack\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg\" width=\"261\" height=\"441\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:441,&quot;width&quot;:261,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:21432,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/i\/209272627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!K3yo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3311786c-837a-4ab6-9916-462423906915_261x441.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>It was a sign of the prevailing instinct of Silicon Valley over the past two decades: Every innovation must make our lives as easy and \u201cfriction-less\u201d as possible. But as Kathryn Jezer-Morton <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/brooding-friction-maxxing-new-years-2026-resolution.html?isNewSocialUser=false&amp;providerId=google.com\"><span>wrote in <\/span><\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/brooding-friction-maxxing-new-years-2026-resolution.html?isNewSocialUser=false&amp;providerId=google.com\"><span>The Cut<\/span><\/a><span> <\/span><\/em><span>earlier this year, it\u2019s reached a tipping point of escapism:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong><span>Tech companies are succeeding in making us think of life itself as inconvenient and something to be continuously escaping from, into digital padded rooms of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/2022\/02\/tik-tok-tinder-algorithm-relationship.html\"><span>predictive algorithms<\/span><\/a><span> and single-tap commands: Reading is boring; talking is awkward; moving is tiring; leaving the house is daunting. Thinking is hard. Interacting with strangers is scary. Risking an unexpected reaction from someone isn\u2019t worth it. Speaking at all \u2014 overrated. These are all frictions that we can now eliminate, easily, and we do.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Jezer-Morton prescribed an antidote to our frictionless hellscape\u2014\u201cfriction-maxxing,\u201d A process of building up tolerance to inconvenience by deliberately avoiding the siren song of technological ease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>TEST: This is a secret message for you using Substack\u2019s new audience targeting features. Listen, if you\u2019re enjoying this newsletter, you should consider upgrading to a paid subscription to my newsletter using this special 30% off offer. For just $4\/month, you\u2019ll get a frankly irresponsible amount of stuff:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>A copy of my best-selling new book, <\/strong><em><strong>Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age <\/strong><\/em><strong>(4.6 rating on Amazon, 4.7 rating on Goodreads)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Access to my new content strategy course <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Invites to my subscriber-only monthly content strategy masterminds and workshops <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/32e63448\">Support my work and subscribe here for 30% off!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>Six months later, Shane argues in our episode, we\u2019re seeing signs that friction-maxxing is picking up steam. Spotify puts every song at your fingertips, but vinyl sales are up. Nearly half the kids in the UK say they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/may\/20\/almost-half-of-young-people-would-prefer-a-world-without-internet-uk-study-finds\"><span>wish the internet were never invented<\/span><\/a><span>. And then there\u2019s AI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Friction-maxxing shows up most readily in the public\u2019s pushback to AI. It\u2019s one thing for an AI algorithm to decide which show we watch next; it\u2019s another thing for a generative AI model to do our thinking and make our art for us. Generative AI is Zuckerberg\u2019s perverse vision of \u201creal-time serendipity in a frictionless experience\u201d brought to its ultimate, most dystopian form.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As Shane argues on this week\u2019s episode, people are pushing back against AI writing and art because the struggle and friction of the creative process is what makes it interesting in the first place. And even AI power users are beginning to worry about how AI is eroding their skills. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After all, it\u2019s hard to ignore the evidence: A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-026-01947-1\"><span>new paper in <\/span><\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-026-01947-1\"><span>Nature<\/span><\/a><span> <\/span><\/em><span>found that AI is degrading the skills of engineers and physicians. A <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/file:\/\/\/Users\/joelazer\/Downloads\/AI_Assistance_Reduces_Persistence.pdf\"><span>new study from MIT and Oxford<\/span><\/a><span> found that using AI for \u201cjust 10-15 minutes of AI interaction can result in significant impairments in independent performance and persistence \u2014 capacities that are foundational to lifelong learning.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img can-restack\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png\" width=\"665\" height=\"486\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:486,&quot;width&quot;:665,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:96009,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/i\/209272627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!UR5u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169fb17b-7994-499b-87b5-bdda01d1a508_665x486.png 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Another study found that AI makes people <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/ai-advice-suppresses-critical-thinking-wrong-answers-study\"><span>confidently wrong<\/span><\/a><span>, while MIT discovered that overreliance on AI <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.media.mit.edu\/publications\/your-brain-on-chatgpt\/\"><span>literally shuts off parts of the brain<\/span><\/a><span>. I could go on for another 1,000 words and list 30 more reputable papers. It\u2019s no wonder that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-ai-backlash-is-everything-everywhere\"><span>AI now has a lower approval rating than ICE<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Is this an idea made in a lab to appeal to book-loving, college-educated writers like me and Shane? Absolutely. And there\u2019s little evidence that people are adopting \u201cfriction-maxxing\u201d on a large scale. But there are signs Silicon Valley has pushed our frictionless future too far, and people are responding. As Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway recently said on <\/span><em><span>Pivot<\/span><\/em><span>, there\u2019s a good chance we\u2019ll look back at this era of technology the same way we look at the chain-smoking and binge-drinking in <\/span><em><span>Mad Men. <\/span><\/em><span>An age in which we were out of control, behaving with little regard for health. <\/span><\/p>\n<p data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\" class=\"button-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share\" class=\"button primary\"><span>Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>I can\u2019t stop thinking about the Unicontext. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two weeks ago, Agnes Callard, a philosopher and professor at the University of Chicago, joined Derek Thompson on his podcast <\/span><em><span>Plain English <\/span><\/em><span>to explain her new theory of everything. It explains why everyone is so negative online, why we\u2019re so fucking depressed comparing ourselves to each other, and why culture is tinted with this disorienting filter of sameness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It also captured why it\u2019s so hard to be a writer and media figure right now. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Collard explains that for most of human history, contexts were local and multiple:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong><span>If you wanted to know how you should act, you would look around. Am I in a field? Am I inside my home? Am I in the church? Am I in a bar? You would immediately get guidance by looking both at your physical environment and the people around you and how they were acting. The uni-context is a scenario in which the ways you should act become the same across all different contexts. There\u2019s just one set of norms you should follow all the time, irrespective of context.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The Unicontext has emerged, in large part, because we\u2019re always online. It feels like we\u2019re in one universal room, and so we have to be the same person in every context. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Unicontext brings dozens of fascinating implications\u2014I\u2019d highly recommend listening to Thompson\u2019s interview with Callard\u2014but the most interesting effects to me are how it impacts our media environment:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>The attention wars<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>On social media, we\u2019re in a constant competition for attention in this one \u201croom\u201d with people all around the world. And the reason that negativity wins out is that things that are BAD are more universally understandable than things that are good. Thompson gives the brilliant example of chicken enchiladas:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong><span>Take food. If I think chicken enchiladas are really delicious, that might be interesting to my wife or my neighbor in the context of our home. But the fact that I think chicken enchiladas are delicious is incredibly boring for posting on Twitter, a place that cuts across contexts. It\u2019s more interesting for me to say white Americans who eat chicken enchiladas are racist against Mexican culture, because the concept of racism clicks into a global norm of badness.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>So when people go online, when it\u2019s suddenly one to a million, there is an inclination to make those posts negative.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>This has a huge subconscious impact on writers. In the pre-algorithmic social media era, we\u2019d write for specific audiences in specific contexts: readers of a specific newspaper or magazine, newsletter subscribers, the audience in a comedy club. But now, we\u2019re always performing for a global audience of strangers in the giant room of the Unicontext, and that subtly pushes us to go negative. That\u2019s even true on Substack, where I have 33K direct subscribers; I\u2019m writing for them, but subconsciously, I\u2019m also hoping to reach new audiences via Substack\u2019s algorithm. Does this impact what I choose to write about? Not consciously, but it\u2019s almost certainly influencing me below the surface. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>Identity &gt; Context <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Callard, the Unicontext also makes identity more important than character. Character is really context dependent\u2014it shows up differently in different circumstances. I might get angry at something, but that anger is context dependent. If you hit my kid out of nowhere, and I get angry, it doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m an asshole. In that context, I\u2019m just being a good and natural parent. You need to see someone in a variety of contexts to truly understand their character. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Identity, however, is much less context-dependent, and thus easier to understand in the Unicontext. Is this why we\u2019ve leaned so hard into identity politics in the social media era on both the left and right? It\u2019s one of the most interesting explanations I\u2019ve heard. It also explains why I make so many jokes about being a neurotic Jew from New York. Everyone who\u2019s seen a Billy Crystal movie gets it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>Authenticity in the Unicontext<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>In a pre-social media world, we had the freedom to be different versions of ourselves in different contexts. You act differently when you\u2019re out dancing with your friends, at dinner with your partner\u2019s family, at the office, or performing in a comedy club. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But in the large room of the Unicontext, all those contexts collide. Even if you\u2019re living in the real world and not online, there are internet-connected cameras everywhere, including hidden ones in those creepy Meta glasses. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This is particularly tricky if you\u2019re a writer or media personality. What I post on Instagram and Substack is going to be seen by both my best friends and my in-laws. That\u2019s not that hard of a line to navigate, but what about the companies that hire me for keynote speaking, and may do a sweep of my social channels\u2014TikTok and all\u2014looking for controversial material? That creates an incentive structure to play it safe. Don\u2019t speak out about the atrocities of the administration; don\u2019t criticize big tech because they might want to hire you to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A lot of popular authors operate this way, only posting pop-sci platitudes that sound straight from the gaping mouth of ChatGPT. But that approach is antithetical to what people crave from the writers and thinkers they follow in 2026: authenticity. People want to feel like they\u2019re getting the real you, all the time. Otherwise, it cheapens the parasocial relationship. This is the secret of writers like Thompson, Scott Galloway, Taylor Lorenz, and Kara Swisher; love them or hate them, they are consistently themselves.  If you want to grow an audience in 2026, I think the only real choice is to figure out how to be yourself all the time across every channel, and if someone doesn\u2019t want to work with you, well then, good riddance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lucky for me, I\u2019ve never known how to be anything else but my mildly unhinged self, and all I can do is ride it out and hope that I gain more than I lose. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Speaking of authenticity, let\u2019s get to the third big idea we discussed\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The war against AI Slop is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/linkedin-declares-war-on-slop-with\"><span>heating up<\/span><\/a><span>. First, Substack introduced a partnership with Pangram last week to increase transparency on the platform and fight against what CEO Chris Best calls \u201cClaudefishing,\u201d that unnerving feeling when you start reading something that you thought came from a human but then quickly realize AI wrote it. Then, yesterday, LinkedIn <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/storytellingedge\/p\/linkedin-declares-war-on-slop-with?r=44j1&amp;utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web\"><span>introduced a \u201cThis seems like AI Slop\u201d button<\/span><\/a><span> to flag low-quality content on the site in the most shocking social media move of the summer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Both platforms were reacting to complaints and concerns from users. But WHY do people dislike AI-generated content so much?  A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/fulltext\/2027-12675-001.html\"><span>large-scale study<\/span><\/a><span> of 27,000 people provides a hint: AI-generated content delivers a kind of Inauthenticity Tax. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It found that when people know a piece of content was created by AI, they perceive the writer as inauthentic and rate it negatively. The researchers found a strong correlation between negative ratings and ratings of inauthenticity, suggesting that our dislike of AI-generated communication is something of a social survival feature. Communicating with AI deprives us of the ability to infer someone\u2019s true meaning via voice and tone. We don\u2019t just judge people by what they say, but by how they say it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\" class=\"button-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share\" class=\"button primary\"><span>Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Almost every month, my friends and I go to a dance party thrown by two of our favorite DJs. It\u2019s not particularly easy to attend. The event isn\u2019t publicly listed; you have to be referred in. You don\u2019t know the location; it\u2019s revealed a few hours before the party. Each party has a theme, and everyone comes in costume. When you arrive, they place a sticker on your phone\u2019s camera, and phones are explicitly banned on the dance floor. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a place where three of the big ideas in our episode intersect: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><span>This party is a high-friction activity. I need to put in effort just to get a ticket. I don\u2019t just need to turn off Netflix and leave my house; I need to plan a creative costume days ahead of time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a blissful time when I can escape from the Unicontext. No one is on the Internet. Everyone is present and dancing. It\u2019s like we\u2019re in 2005 again. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><span>It\u2019s part of the <\/span><strong><span>return of the<\/span><\/strong><span> <\/span><strong><span>Experience Economy<\/span><\/strong><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>On the episode, Shane argues that as digital content becomes more abundant, live experiences and events are becoming comparatively scarcer, and that\u2014combined with a move to friction-maxxing\u2014is creating a boom in people investing in real-life experiences. The evidence:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img can-restack\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png\" width=\"997\" height=\"519\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/d333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:519,&quot;width&quot;:997,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:85517,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/i\/209272627?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-QB5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd333a075-1846-4416-8907-bf42633e2564_997x519.png 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Two weeks ago, IBM\u2019s stock fell over 25% in one day after a relatively mild earnings miss, which IBM CEO Arvind Krishna attributed to customers shifting spending from software to hardware and memory to secure the supply of servers and memory before the AI boom drives up <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91572617\/massive-ai-spending-driving-up-prices-laptops-electricity-as-fed-watches-closely\"><span>the cost of chips and most hardware<\/span><\/a><span> to even more astronomical levels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was just the latest bad day in a very bad year for the software industry. As Morningstar reports, \u201cthe S&amp;P 500\u2019s software industry group is down 18% so far this year, reflecting concerns about disruption risk brought about by artificial intelligence.\u201d In our episode, Shane predicts in our episode, that\u2019s only going to get worse as AI\u2019s coding prowess drives down the cost and difficulty of building your own tools. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Case in point: He recently vibe-coded a platform to manage the investors in his films and theatre productions, allowing him to cancel an $8,000 software subscription. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This is the idea we disagreed on the most: While I think that AI is going to drive down the cost of software, I\u2019m skeptical that most enterprise companies are going to start building their own software suddenly. Building compliant, enterprise software is tough, and most large companies are designed to buy, not build, their tech tools. And entrepreneurs like Shane who are willing to sit down and vibe-code their own software are relatively rare (although they\u2019re disproportionately loud on LinkedIn and X). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If you\u2019re here and just read 2,500 words on these ideas, that probably means you\u2019d enjoy the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026-so-far\/id1873441245?i=1000779264305\"><span>whole damn podcast<\/span><\/a><span>. There\u2019s so much great banter! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Want to get top content strategies and insights in your inbox each week? Then subscribe to this newsletter and check out my best-selling new book, <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Super-Skill-Why-Storytelling-Superpower\/dp\/1632261723\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ILRDAYRWS8QH&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Nc5G9UclO0skyrx-FzjyVQ.iXsFA3yFanyGG225zAtNw3f2c_RESYibMQfV3PcT53U&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=super+skill+joe+lazer&amp;qid=1765243861&amp;sprefix=super+skill+joe+laz%2Caps%2C139&amp;sr=8-1\">Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age<\/a><\/strong><span>. You\u2019ll also get a personalized, <\/span><strong><span>signed copy of Super Skill<\/span><\/strong><span> when you upgrade your subscription to paid, access to my new course, and an invite to <\/span><strong><span>monthly workshops and content strategy mastermind sessions<\/span><\/strong><span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/subscribe?coupon=32e63448&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Get It for $4\/month&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\" class=\"button-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/subscribe?coupon=32e63448\" class=\"button primary\"><span>Get It for $4\/month<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/storytellingedge.substack.com\/p\/the-5-most-interesting-ideas-of-2026?utm_source=tldrnewsletter\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Friday Storytellers, I spent last week doing something new: Attending a keynote speaking retreat. Ever since my new book Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age came out, I\u2019ve been invited to speak at a lot of conferences and internal corporate summits about how to unleash your storytelling superpowers and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":23003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}