The Most Powerful Emotion - Fear
Why is everyone so worked up about AI?
Fear.
And there are all kinds of fears to choose from:
- Terminator and Apocalypse
- The Matrix with bio-batteries
- Missing out on making money from the hype
- Not fitting into the new world and ending up broke
- Being outpaced by competitors
- Losing humanity
- Not living to see total cyborgization
The list goes on.
Fear is an ancient, primal emotion necessary for species survival.
Otherwise, dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers would have devoured us millions of years ago, and I wouldn't be here playing philosopher.
But now it plays nasty tricks on us. Changing something as an individual is nearly impossible, especially with such monumental shifts.
Yet losing the ability to think logically and make balanced decisions is quite possible.
Living organisms have three reactions to fear:
- Freeze and poop yourself
- Run and poop yourself
- Fight and poop yourself
This is what Evolution has given us.
But we have Reason (at least most of us think so).
Should we fear the inevitable, or stop crapping ourselves and think about what to do with it?
Like one of our ancient ancestors who didn’t run from a burning tree struck by lightning but brought home fire and made the first step towards our civilization.
AI is already here, even where you least expect it.
In fact, it’s been with us since at least the mid-20th century, if you didn’t know.
It’s just that now it’s available not only to scientists and mathematicians but also to school kids and grandmas.
Even if the grandmas don’t realize it.
Knowledge of individual psychology and group sociology has turned marketing into a weapon of mass destruction.
With AI, it’s only a matter of time (practically already) before marketing becomes super individualized. Targeted not at a hypothetical ICP, but precisely at you.
In reality, the availability and ubiquity of AI are turning the rules of the game upside down.
The speed of change is staggering.
On one hand, it lowers the barrier to starting your own business online or growing an existing one.Just as the internet once allowed millions of people worldwide to express themselves.
Solo-preneur millionaires are no longer surprising because:
- AI assistants replace support staff
- AI replaces designers and programmers
- AI creates digital products
- AI writes social media content
But there’s another side to the coin.If you think about it, it’s no less (or maybe even more) frightening.
AI is starting to replace human Reason.Yes, the very one most people think they possess.And empathy, too, by the way.
Let’s add another layer.
The quickest and easiest way to get rich (I hesitate to say earn—it's different) is by exploiting human vices.
This is not often spoken about openly.
Everyone talks about balance, healthy living, walks, and the path to success...But we know—they all lie!
Fear. Human vices. AI replacing Reason.
A hellish, explosive mix.This mix is used by nearly everyone, burning through human relationships and experience.You can no longer be sure that what you see, read, or even who you talk to, is a living person and not AI.
Churning out courses on achieving massive success?
There were already too many of them.
Now try finding precious knowledge in a pile of AI-repackaged banalities.
That's why non-technical entrepreneurs watch this circus with horror.
Fine if you’re a unique specialist.
The only one.
If you also have practical skills—you’re invaluable and irreplaceable.
But what if you’re not?
Don't get discouraged and don't panic.
What I started with—fear robs us of the ability to think logically.And accept that the world has already changed—there's no turning back.
The ability to be flexible, think outside the box, adapt, and not give up distinguishes a successful entrepreneur.
And it doesn’t matter if they’re technically savvy or not.
In reality, if you think about it and abstract from the confusing terms, it all becomes quite simple.
- Automation allows certain routine, repetitive tasks (parts of processes) to be handed over to a computer
- AI, in a limited sense, can integrate into these processes and dilute the rigid sequence (if - then - that) with more “meaningful” actions.
Essentially, AI can make decisions to manage the process while remaining part of it.
Automating physical processes at this stage of technology is quite difficult and requires significant investment.
You need to build your own infrastructure, robots, conveyors, and control software.
Sure, robotic cafes look futuristic, but for now, they’re one-off solutions with many questions remaining after the journalists' cameras stop rolling.
Digital activities, which are present in almost any business nowadays (unless you’re raising goats in the highlands of Tibet), range from accounting to communication with customers and suppliers.
To understand how this “scary beast” can help your specific small business, you don’t need to hire a specialist.
Just complete a few simple tasks:
- Audit the time spent on different tasks
- Identify possibilities for automation
- List the tools you use
- Evaluate tasks by time spent or cost
- Create a process diagram with connections
When you break down your daily activities into simple components, it’s not so scary.
And by the way, you can do this on a regular piece of paper—you don’t have to torment yourself with yet another app.
Once you have this basic picture drawn out, you can bring in an expert who will make sense of your scribbles.
And of course, they’ll ask a bunch of clarifying questions and explain what’s unclear.
So, it isn’t as scary as it's painted.
The elephant should be eaten one bite at a time.
The key is to start.
If you want to know more about other mess-ups and lessons on my entrepreneurial journey — subscribe to Eugene’s Stories.
See you next week!
- Eugene
And one more thing.
- Eugene
Join the “most offbeat” Businessletter on entrepreneurship.
Hi, I’m Eugene.
Over the past 20+ years, I’ve grown an international agency from one-person freelance to a multimillion-dollar business. I’ve led teams, scaled systems, burned out, rebuilt, and learned (the hard way) what it really takes to run a business that doesn’t consume your life.
I help them make sense of complexity, design simple systems, and create the kind of business they actually want to run.
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