Leverage

The year is 2025. I’m turning 40 soon, sitting in a cramped 450-square-foot apartment with thin walls, $50,000 in credit card debt, and a credit score of 646. My financial worth: $100 in liquid assets. My net worth: deeply negative. Five years ago, I was worth over $7 million. This isn’t a story about market crashes or economic downturns. This is a story about human fallibility—specifically, mine. If you’re looking for a cautionary tale about greed, overconfidence, and the psychological pitfalls of sudden wealth, welcome. I’ve lived it all so you don’t have to.

Tools as a Hallmark of Human Innovation # The creation and use of tools has long been recognized as a significant aspect of human development. While we now understand that many animals also utilize tools in various forms, humans have uniquely developed meta-tooling—the ability to create tools that in turn create other tools. This capacity for recursive innovation sets our technological development apart in remarkable ways.