Most of what we hear about AI is a story of loss: slop everywhere, our thinking outsourced to machines, our livelihoods destroyed.
But there’s another version of this story.
Some of the most interesting people we know aren’t taking the bait on the “human vs. AI” debate. They’re doing their thing and leaning harder into themselves. We think they’re a window into a future where advances in machines will usher in an era of re-enchantment where we will become freer, stranger, more creative, more idiosyncratic, more alive.
Whoa, Vol. 3: Humanmaxxing: How to thrive in the age of machines is this year’s annual interview series. Alex Dobrenko` returns as the host.
The lineup includes Rachel Karten, who built her thriving newsletter Link in Bio by taking her obsessions seriously. Henrik Karlsson, a poet-turned-programmer raising his children on an island farm, who finds LLMs marvelous, horrifying, and a reason to get weirder. Cate Hall, a former Supreme Court attorney and top-ranked female poker player, who recently released the book You Can Just Do Things. Experimental psychologist Adam Mastroianni whose writing is proof that the topic you’re writing about doesn’t matter so long as the writer is great. And conceptual artist Jack Butcher who thinks the people declaring creatives should never use AI are the new Amazon critics with seven Prime boxes in their doorway.
We kept returning to the idea that doom is too easy. That the way out is to tell the stories of people whose lives and work are a direct argument against the diminishment story.
New episodes will drop weekly through August. Follow along on Substack, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
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We partnered with Granola (the actually discrete meeting notetaker we LOVE and use daily) to sponsor this series and record each conversation so that you can get the insights, and chat with the notes at your will.
We first met Granola’s founder, Chris, back when he was still figuring out what to build next (he had sold his previous company to Google), and we were in the early days of building Sublime. He became a friend and mentor and someone whose product judgment we deeply respect. So it has been especially fun to watch him go from “what should I build?” to building a product we can’t imagine creating Sublime without, to his company now sponsoring this series. Thank you Granola! If you want to try Granola unlimited, use code SUBLIME to get 3 months for free here.
PSA: Code for Creatives x Sublime is coming this fall. Alex Dobrenko—the host of this series and a longtime Sublime collaborator—runs Code for Creatives, where he teaches creative people to build with Claude Code. We’re teaming up on a special cohort all about making the weird, specific ideas in your head real—and making them well.
Spots are limited, and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.
The first conversation drops tomorrow, but it’s live on YouTube for the early birds:
