Composing Success: Building with AI Tools
Reflections on turning API calls into production systems—and what it teaches us about the future of engineering
Reflections on turning API calls into production systems—and what it teaches us about the future of engineering
Watching the math of entrepreneurship change in real-time—and what the numbers reveal about who wins
How a 24-year-old built a $6M ARR company with zero funding by recombining AI tools—and what this reveals about the future of entrepreneurship
AI music doesn't have to be addictive. We can design for creativity, development, and human flourishing instead of compulsion. Here's how.
If AI music addiction continues unchecked, we face strange cultural futures—from listening extinction to creative fragmentation to post-music societie...
The market rewards addictive products. Entrepreneurs face a genuine dilemma—build what works or build what's right. Here's the uncomfortable truth abo...
Where AI agent labor markets are heading—and how we can shape that future
Behavioral data reveals clear statistical signatures of compulsive use. This isn't anecdotal—it's measurable, pervasive, and validates every theoretic...
Practical strategies for profiting from AI agent labor markets—from arbitrage to empire
More musical output than ever, yet declining musicianship and creative agency. The 'democratization' narrative obscures a deeper displacement of human...
How AI agent labor markets reshape organizational structures and work itself
AI music generation exploits variable reward schedules identical to gambling. This is dopamine economics—neurologically literal, not metaphorical.
From theory to practice—the technical foundations of agent economies
Eight weeks observing Suno's Discord and Reddit communities reveals addiction patterns at scale—with social dynamics that amplify individual compulsio...
When machines work, what happens to human purpose, dignity, and identity?
Suno's technical architecture isn't neutral. Specific design decisions—from stochastic sampling to UX patterns—systematically amplify uncertainty and ...
How do you value labor performed by entities without needs, rights, or wages?
Suno's business model doesn't just enable addiction—it economically requires it. A deep dive into the incentive structures that make compulsive engage...
What I built in one weekend that replaced a $564/year research stack—and why you can too
How I stopped being a tool consumer and became a system builder—and why that changed everything
From science fiction to economic reality—the birth of a new labor market
The moment I realized my research tools were bleeding me dry—and discovered there was a better way

Explore the fundamental principles of platform economics and how AI amplifies network effects in modern digital markets.
When did making music become a slot machine? A first-person exploration of the compulsive 'just one more generation' experience that reveals addiction...
89% of U.S. job sites now use algorithmic management tools. Your schedule, performance review, and promotion decisions are determined by code. The rev...
How I replaced a $500K+ sales team with AI automation in 30 days. 150 demos/month, 30% close rate, $50 CAC. Here's the complete architecture, week-by-...
The brutal math, the ethical reckoning, and what 6 months of AI-first operations taught me. From 8 people to 2 humans + 15 AI agents. 75% cost reducti...
The IMF's stark choice: transformative growth or incremental gains. Which path are we choosing? The difference between 0.3% and 1.5% annual productivi...
San Francisco salary. Lisbon cost of living. $137K extra savings in 2 years. How AI-enabled remote work unlocked the most rational wealth strategy for...
AI vendors pitch $100K software. The real cost? $600K to $1.2M in complementary investments. Here's the hidden multiplier that explains why AI transfo...
Literature review for my thesis: 200+ papers to read. At 2 hours per paper, that's 400 hours. I had one weekend. With Claude as my research assistant,...
The translation industry collapsed in four years—68,000 translators in 2020, 41,000 in 2024. Translation services declined 31% annually. Your professi...
I'm 3x faster at coding, 5x faster at writing, yet national productivity stats show nothing. Why does my personal AI-powered productivity explosion di...
Three world-class economists look at AI and see completely different futures. Goldman says $7 trillion. McKinsey says $25 trillion. Acemoglu says 1.1%...
MIT data reveals something shocking: high-skill knowledge workers are seeing negative wage growth while AI disrupts the professional class. My persona...
From $20M to $200K: How AI-native startups achieve 100x capital efficiency. Real data from founders hitting $8M ARR solo. The economics have fundament...
We're excited to launch the XPS Scholar blog - a space for sharing insights on AI-driven economics, entrepreneurship, and cutting-edge research.
Every second spent on friction is a second stolen from discovery. Quantifying the research time crisis and the AI automation solution.
Dissecting the four-layer architecture that makes AI-powered research automation possible: from Claude Code to MCP to Playwright.
Eliminating the 2-3 hours/week lost to institutional logins with Playwright persistent context and automated authentication workflows.
Eliminating 5-7 hours/week of PDF hunting with intelligent download automation, metadata extraction, and semantic organization.
From isolated components to unified symphony: daily routines, literature reviews, and custom workflows achieving 5-10x productivity gains.
Standing at the threshold of 2025-2030: lessons learned, emerging capabilities, and positioning yourself in the research transformation.
My personal productivity has exploded thanks to AI, but the national statistics show nothing. Am I in a bubble, or is the data broken?
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How a 24-year-old built a $6M ARR company with zero funding by recombining AI tools—and what this reveals about the future of entrepreneurship
AI music doesn't have to be addictive. We can design for creativity, development, and human flourishing instead of compulsion. Here's how.
If AI music addiction continues unchecked, we face strange cultural futures—from listening extinction to creative fragmentation to post-music societie...
The market rewards addictive products. Entrepreneurs face a genuine dilemma—build what works or build what's right. Here's the uncomfortable truth abo...
Behavioral data reveals clear statistical signatures of compulsive use. This isn't anecdotal—it's measurable, pervasive, and validates every theoretic...
More musical output than ever, yet declining musicianship and creative agency. The 'democratization' narrative obscures a deeper displacement of human...
AI music generation exploits variable reward schedules identical to gambling. This is dopamine economics—neurologically literal, not metaphorical.
From theory to practice—the technical foundations of agent economies
Eight weeks observing Suno's Discord and Reddit communities reveals addiction patterns at scale—with social dynamics that amplify individual compulsio...
When machines work, what happens to human purpose, dignity, and identity?
Suno's technical architecture isn't neutral. Specific design decisions—from stochastic sampling to UX patterns—systematically amplify uncertainty and ...
How do you value labor performed by entities without needs, rights, or wages?
Suno's business model doesn't just enable addiction—it economically requires it. A deep dive into the incentive structures that make compulsive engage...
What I built in one weekend that replaced a $564/year research stack—and why you can too
How I stopped being a tool consumer and became a system builder—and why that changed everything
From science fiction to economic reality—the birth of a new labor market
The moment I realized my research tools were bleeding me dry—and discovered there was a better way

Explore the fundamental principles of platform economics and how AI amplifies network effects in modern digital markets.
When did making music become a slot machine? A first-person exploration of the compulsive 'just one more generation' experience that reveals addiction...
89% of U.S. job sites now use algorithmic management tools. Your schedule, performance review, and promotion decisions are determined by code. The rev...
How I replaced a $500K+ sales team with AI automation in 30 days. 150 demos/month, 30% close rate, $50 CAC. Here's the complete architecture, week-by-...
The brutal math, the ethical reckoning, and what 6 months of AI-first operations taught me. From 8 people to 2 humans + 15 AI agents. 75% cost reducti...
The IMF's stark choice: transformative growth or incremental gains. Which path are we choosing? The difference between 0.3% and 1.5% annual productivi...
San Francisco salary. Lisbon cost of living. $137K extra savings in 2 years. How AI-enabled remote work unlocked the most rational wealth strategy for...
AI vendors pitch $100K software. The real cost? $600K to $1.2M in complementary investments. Here's the hidden multiplier that explains why AI transfo...
Literature review for my thesis: 200+ papers to read. At 2 hours per paper, that's 400 hours. I had one weekend. With Claude as my research assistant,...
The translation industry collapsed in four years—68,000 translators in 2020, 41,000 in 2024. Translation services declined 31% annually. Your professi...
I'm 3x faster at coding, 5x faster at writing, yet national productivity stats show nothing. Why does my personal AI-powered productivity explosion di...
Three world-class economists look at AI and see completely different futures. Goldman says $7 trillion. McKinsey says $25 trillion. Acemoglu says 1.1%...
MIT data reveals something shocking: high-skill knowledge workers are seeing negative wage growth while AI disrupts the professional class. My persona...
From $20M to $200K: How AI-native startups achieve 100x capital efficiency. Real data from founders hitting $8M ARR solo. The economics have fundament...
We're excited to launch the XPS Scholar blog - a space for sharing insights on AI-driven economics, entrepreneurship, and cutting-edge research.
Every second spent on friction is a second stolen from discovery. Quantifying the research time crisis and the AI automation solution.
Standing at the threshold of 2025-2030: lessons learned, emerging capabilities, and positioning yourself in the research transformation.
My personal productivity has exploded thanks to AI, but the national statistics show nothing. Am I in a bubble, or is the data broken?
Reflections on turning API calls into production systems—and what it teaches us about the future of engineering
Watching the math of entrepreneurship change in real-time—and what the numbers reveal about who wins
Where AI agent labor markets are heading—and how we can shape that future
Practical strategies for profiting from AI agent labor markets—from arbitrage to empire