Ben's 1x1x1 - A Brief History of Humans Freaking Out - September 18, 2026 🚀

For those of you that are new here, every week I send what I call a 1x1x1.

One thought from my week. One interesting find/tool from my week. One image from my life.

Let’s dive in 👇

Thought from the week

What’s on my mind this week?

People are really scared of AI right now.

Which, to be fair, is hard not to be when every media channel has decided we’re roughly three software updates away from being ruled by a slightly smug toaster.

My goal in the 60 seconds you spend reading this: ease that anxiety a little and help you move from victim to opportunist.

Remember: pessimists get to be right a lot. Optimists get to be rich a lot.

Full disclosure: I am hardwired to be an optimist.

Borderline annoyingly so.

Like everyone else, I have no idea what happens with AI.

Could it all go horribly wrong in 10 years? Yep.

Could we get wiped out by something else entirely before then? Also yep.

Humanity has built quite an impressive menu of possible disasters.

But I’m pretty sure we’re going to be fine.

Here are my random thoughts:

Humans have been terrified of machines for 100 years

Long-time readers know I love history, mostly because it’s the fastest cure for feeling like we’re living through the only weird moment in human history.

And if history tells us anything, we’ve been scared of robots for a very long time.

March of the machine, February 26, 1928

TIME April 2, 1965 - The Automation Jobless

And even before computers, there have been some big freak outs:

Printing press (1400s): Scholars worried about information overload and heretical ideas spreading unchecked. Basically, 1400s Twitter.

Luddites (1810s): Textile workers smashed machines they believed would destroy their livelihoods.

Railways (1800s): Media claimed high speeds would harm the body or the mind.

Telephone and radio: Critics predicted the collapse of face-to-face social life and of children’s attention.

Sound familiar?

And then of course, we have today:

Now, I hear the counterargument: AI is different.

It can act autonomously, improve quickly, and is being adopted at a completely stupid pace.

I agree.

We should be thoughtful.

We should build guardrails.

We should not hand a robot the nuclear launch codes because it made a nice PowerPoint.

But history doesn’t repeat itself exactly.

But it sure as shit rhymes.

My next reminder: Fear creates opportunity

When everyone is fearful, that’s usually when the best moves are being made quietly.

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” - Warren Buffett

That doesn’t mean blindly buying every company with “AI” in its pitch deck and a chatbot on its homepage.

It means getting curious while everyone else is doom-scrolling.

The real alpha is not having a fear-based mindset.

Fear rarely helps you make good decisions.

It makes you freeze, complain, or write a 17-post thread about why the robots are coming for your job.

This is where I feel like a weirdo sometimes.

Loads of people around me are legit scared and I’m on the other side of the fence going: oh this is going to be good!

Again, could I be totally wrong? Of course.

But I’d rather be a cautious optimist than a helpless pessimist.

Be a Jedi.

Look past the fear.

Learn the tools.

Make the moves.

Or just enjoy your life.

That’s also a pretty great strategy :)

Image from my life

Trying to make it look like we have our lives together for 30 seconds 😂

See you all next week!