A Letter For Vibe Shift
The Post that got me out of bed and running
Vibe Shift isn’t just a substack post. It’s a… Vibe Shifter.
It’s not gospel to me, I’m not even sure I agree with all of it.
What resonates with me though REALLY resonates. It’s the return to authenticity. The return of human judgement. The return of American dynamism. The premise of looking into an uncertain future, full of unknown unknowns, rife with anxiety inducing negative possibilities, and CHOOSING to build instead,
In a way it’s a countercultural movement. Like punk rock and hip-hop.
The vibe shift is strong with me now. I’m feeling it.
The piece hit me at exactly the right moment - when I was grappling with what role optimism should play in our current landscape. Like many, I've found myself caught between the weight of contemporary challenges and the pull toward building something meaningful. Your articulation of the Vibe Shift provided a framework that helped me make sense of this tension.
What struck me most was your emphasis on choosing to build amid uncertainty. It's not about naive optimism or ignoring reality - it's about acknowledging the challenges while refusing to be paralyzed by them. This resonated deeply with my own journey as an entrepreneur and (new) writer.
The way you connected this cultural moment to historical parallels - from the printing press to the American frontier - helped me understand that periods of great upheaval often coincide with periods of incredible innovation and possibility. It's not just about weathering the storm; it's about harnessing its energy to create something new.
AI and its implications seem both terrifying and exciting. With the release of OpenAI o3 model and its extraordinary performance benchmarks last week, even more so. I guess I just want to land on the exciting side of things and be part of the progress that could free humanity from grips of power (literally power, energy production) and bureaucracy.
Thank you for giving language to something many of us were feeling but couldn't quite articulate. Your piece has become a touchstone I return to when I need a reminder that choosing to build, to create, to push forward isn't just an option - it's an imperative.
With love and deep appreciation,
-Andrew