Stop nerfing yourself — this is the worst time in history to be cautious

April 12, 2026

I've been experiencing a feeling lately that's massive and hard to pin down. But here goes.

If you remember my piece on Constraints on Creativity, and the more recent one on Aperture Collapse, the idea is the same.

I am constantly catching myself being far too cautious, too tentative, thinking too small, forgetting the big picture, and just generally not thinking about what's possible and chasing it aggressively.

I frequently have ideas that are very large and ambitious and positive. Things like Human 3.0, Substrate, TELOS, and now PAI. I've also been working on a unified theory for free will that has been sitting as a draft for over two years. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably more like five years.

Meanwhile, I'm building tons of stuff and shipping tons of stuff, but so much of it is a tiny fraction of the big picture. There are many reasons for this, but some of them include:

• Believing the idea is too big
• Believing the idea is too big for me
• Thinking that if it was that good of an idea, someone else would have had it already
• Thinking that I have to slowly do it one piece at a time and putting obstacles in my own way
• Thinking about how much work is involved and getting intimidated, and only working on a small piece or moving on to a new project

I am actively working to stop this. Or, stated positively, I'm going to actively work to:

• Think much bigger, and don't let outside voices (or my own voice) temper the ideas
• Keep the larger vision firmly in sight and try to avoid aperture collapse
• Be more accepting of partial progress as long as it's helping me, or more importantly other people, spawn ideas from it that help them in some way

That's a lot of words for a simple direction.

I'm about to go insane mode. On purpose. Controlled mania, almost. Way more belief in myself. Way less listening to naysayers—mostly myself. And way less listening to convention, and the opinions of haters and people not on the field.

This is basically the worst time in history to be cautious. At least for me, and I think for people anything like me.

If you have ideas, get them out.

There. Is. No. Time.

Build it. Do it. Talk about it. Do 3 things at once. Do 10 things at once. Fail at lots of them; nobody cares. All that matters is if you can get 3% or 24% or 82% of them over the line where they can make a difference and help people.

The absolute worst thing I, or any of you reading this who want to create value in the world, can do right now is have ideas that you're not acting upon.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Maya Angelou

One of my favorite quotes. It's always been true, but it's 1000x more true now.

This is a Cambrian Explosion moment.

Don't be timid. Don't play it safe—unless you've really thought that through and you have a relatively sure thing.

If you are a builder or creator, now is the time to believe in yourself and become yourself. Not the partial, reserved version that all your friends and peers will 100% approve of. If everyone 100% approves of what you're doing, it's because you're nerfed. You've nerfed yourself to avoid criticism.

Fuck all that. Fight. Become the version of yourself that you used to think you could become. Full activation.

You can build anything right now.

Don't wait for the future regret of not having gone for it. It will sting more than ever in 5 years because everyone will know then that this was the moment.

Take it.