Just because someone is in a room with respected people doesn’t make them a respected person.
You can’t buy respect.
You can’t buy credibility.
You can’t buy integrity.
So I want to challenge you: when do you look at a follower count and let the number do the thinking for you? When do you opt into herd mentality vs. when do you slow down and actually use critical thinking to verify the credentials of the people you’re following, supporting and giving your money?
The discomfort of that question is exactly the point.
@tedx.miami left me with more questions than answers and I’m still processing.
I have a lot of thoughts (full piece on Substack next week), but right out of the gate: what moved me most wasn’t a slide or a statistic. It was the pause for the orchestra to play. What is this world without art? A rock. People were in tears.
And then the impact of politicians…Boris Johnson, of all people, saying he loves AI, loves ChatGPT. I don’t align with him politically but I’ll take the honesty. Because the politicians I actually trust? They’re asking about our consent.
Or the 15-minute intermission, genuinely connecting with the lawyer, dentist, tech leader, and cardiologist sitting right in front of me.
Or @_tonycho_ ‘s story about honoring his late wife by making Miami softer. Through nature, through design that questions the toxic masculinity baked into how we build cities. Asking who do we want to be as ancestors to this society?
And then the weight of it all. Hundreds of thousands of children are suicidal. AI is making dangerous mistakes impacting our mental health. 30% of AI founders openly admit it will probably kill a significant percentage of humanity. Where is our consent?
And yes, AI can revolutionize medicine. It can accelerate research, catch diseases earlier, save lives we couldn’t before. That potential is real and worth protecting. But so is our responsibility to guide where we let it go. The technology isn’t the question. The consent is.
This technical revolution is already doing damage.
I’ll be writing about all of it this week.
Instagram just deleted half the fake internet 💀
Creators are waking up to brutal follower drops after Instagram launched a massive bot purge this week.
And honestly?
Good.
The ghost follower era is dying.
For years the app has been bloated with fake engagement, inactive accounts, and vanity metrics inflated like a crypto bubble.
Now the dead internet is getting pressure washed.
Your community > your follower count.
Always.
👇Comment PURGE for the details ✨
My friend performed for 25 people.
I told him his outfit was whack.
He fixed it.
Now he's a top 40 rapper.
Because when a woman tells you something's a turn off?
Listen.
We're not being mean.
We're saving you from yourself.
The music video idea that gives us the ick?
Scrap it.
The fit that's giving gas station cat caller energy?
Burn it.
Women don't kill careers.
We build them.
Elvis knew it.
ASAP Rocky knew it.
Every artist who made it from 25 people to 25,000 knew it.
We walk in the room and raise the value.
Or we walk out and take it with us.
Your choice.
👇 Comment HOMEGIRL for the tea 🖤
