📐Defense Against the Dark Arts

The psychology of thriving in the midst of an AI tipping point.

A Tipping Point?

“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” -Malcom Gladwell

While 2026 feels like a heavier year than normal, this post is not going to be political. And sure, while Kristi Noem feels like an R-rated version of Dolores Umbridge, or the vainglorious Ministry of Magic pawn that leaned in on alternative facts, the Hogwarts parallels extend beyond the political sphere.

Dolores Umbridge, mixing neat, tidy and pretty little pink lies.

Rather, I want to offer a psychological template on how to thrive in the world of AI. If 2025 was the year of mass adoption of AI tools, 2026 appears likely to be the tipping point where real collateral damage starts.

While it was just an imaginative thought piece, the Citrini Substack “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” has not only accelerated the conversation, but actually removed 1-2% from your 401K. I highly recommend you take some time to listen to it or read it in case you haven’t. While there are many counter-points to the negative view, I want to offer some that relate to our brain’s blueprint.

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS

AI Veterans

“Be guided by beauty… There is beauty in things that work really well.” -Jim Simons

AI is not new on Wall Street. Some quants have been killing it for so long that nearly any human “survivor” on Wall Street has been living in an environment where computers take human jobs on a continuous basis.

Whether it was intelligent robots that would employ sophisticated but opaque trading strategies, or dumb robots, that would simply replace the fees that humans charged with a low-cost passive fund, robots have been taking human jobs for decades on Wall Street.

Jim Simons, one of the OG quant fund founders, and certainly one of the most successful.

When I started my firm, GreenWood Investors, the trend was so obvious and pervasive, that I would regularly tilt our firm to the opposite of what AI and robots could do. I called it, the defense against the dark arts — inspired by a dorky obsession with Harry Potter.

Defense against the dark arts class with Professor Moody

Being a person who never wants to retire, I knew I needed to develop expertise and skillsets that robots would never be able to do.

That first manifested in constructing portfolios that were very hard for computers to replicate, if not impossible. Not everything that matters can be measured, and I wanted to lean in on this. I wanted to see non-quantifiable possibility, and track progress against that vision.

Many of my peers would also do the same by following in Charlie Munger’s footsteps and instead would look at qualitative factors of investments. Unfortunately, many “high quality” business models that can be found via numerical metrics, chiefly the return on capital, are now in the direct cross-hairs of AI coming after them.

If it can be measured, it’s not safe from computers.

No industry, no investment is totally isolated from this movement.

But there is a part of our brains that can’t be replicated by AI — and will not be, at least until quantum computing becomes a thing. Even then, I have strong doubts that we can teach a computer to feel, but at least it will move beyond a binary universe (a very left-brain concept) and will be able to utilize an infinite quantum of possibility.

Infinite Possibility

“We are energy beings connected to one another through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family.” -Jill Bolte Taylor

That’s the domain of our right brains.

Our right brains generate groundbreaking insights, can imagine a different world and can then create it. It’s not only creative and insightful, but it relays the mental models of our own super-computers (top left brains) into the real world, and can relate that data analysis to people, emotional reactions, and spiritual beliefs.

I don’t think AI will be emotional or spiritual for quite some time, if ever.

But humans are emotional creatures who also think, not the other way around. If you’re going to do something that’s of service to fellow humans (by definition, what makes the economy go around), you need empathy. You need an EQ, which is a bottom-brain function that AI isn’t going to replicate.

You also need the infinite creative possibility of the right brain. It’s nonlinear, non-verbal, and intuitive.

If this doesn’t sound like your go-to tools, don’t worry. I have many hyper left-brained colleagues and friends that also have incredible empathy, a spiritual drive, and a sincere and purposeful urge to Build.

Furthermore, perhaps no one has thrived more in this AI age than left-brain oriented Elon Musk. He co-founded OpenAI, and moved onto creating real things that AI can’t replicate. Maybe it takes one to know one, but even if you are left brain oriented, you can still thrive. You are still human. Maybe you have an even better skillset than creatives to thrive in the world of AI. Elon provides one of many examples.

Life as a House

“I believe that our planet is inhabited… also by ideas.” -Elizabeth Gilbert

All buildings start with the right brain. An architect comes up with a concept. Often it’s terrifically abstract and looks like “it’ll never work,” when it comes to steel, glass and wood. That right brain needs other tools from the left brain to help it bring that possibility into a buildable reality.

Increasingly, AI and computers will occupy that part of the task and job. But it doesn’t in any way replace the conceiver, the decision maker, or even the common sense part of making something beautiful also practical and workable.

So even if you’re more comfortable in your left brain, it’s now the moment to take some time to work on your right brain skillsets. Not only will these skills never get replaced with AI, but they will make you happier, more likable, and defensive against technology evolving at an exponential rate.

My dear friend at the Curious Mind wrote a great article last month urging us all to lean into our right brains, with a few simple tools to recommend. He’s not just a great writer, but is able to bring complex issues into the most succinct recommendations possible.

The Best Trade You'll Never Make

If you want even deeper reading into the subject, my two favorite books that provide a roadmap for reconnecting with the right brain are Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Just like the right brain should be, these are fun reads.

The left brain will be skeptical of advice to lean into imagination, as it can feel whimsical, but the left brain is also vulnerable to burying one’s head in the sand. In split brain patient experiments, the left brain would literally make up hallucinogenic responses rather than provide no response.

Sound familiar?

If dealing with computational hallucinations doesn’t ring a bell, you need to start using AI tools more often.

Why? Didn’t we just go through the fact that we need to lean into the right brain to not just survive but thrive in the era of accelerated AI development?

Yes, but one of the easiest ways to lean into a part of our brains is to “outsource” other parts of it.

I’ve found that when I’m writing, all my content is original, but my fact-checkers are constantly running in the background. I intuitively write down facts, figures, or statistics from my imagination, and while my creative mind moves onto the next subject, my AI agents are making sure all the intuition is accurate in detail.

The right brain would rather be “roughly right,” rather than being precisely wrong. My AI agents help with precision and keep the creative juices flowing the whole time. I don't have to go into left-brain mode anymore.

A Hopeful Outlook for Builders

“It is the quality of one’s convictions that determines success, not the number of followers.” -Hogwarts Professor Lupin

I’m not sure if it will be like this always, but the jobs that AI are going after first are the most junior jobs. A decade ago, I felt like I probably needed a few more analysts to manage a significantly larger portfolio. These days, I’m thinking maybe one.

So I had a very direct and candid conversation with one of our interns this week about incorporating this outlook into his career planning. Joining an industry that will be seeing continuous headcount reductions is never an easy career path. But it can still be great, if it’s differentiated.

In other conversations I’ve had with peers and friends in the tech industry, one of the most obvious dilemmas is that if we’re not training the next generation of analysts, engineers, etc — then how will we create the long-term next generation of decision makers?

AI is terrific at outsourcing the analyst, but it is not great at making decisions. Perhaps it will get better, but I don’t think it will ever be at human level. AI can never have wisdom.

The most incredible achievements in knowledge don’t come from analyzing data and making an inference. It’s the opposite. It comes from a simple concept, most likely from an “outsider,” making an instinctual guess, and then the outsider tests that theory in reality and iterates.

So there is indeed a major dilemma that many advanced AI adopters are confronting right now: firing all the junior people is very great for your short-term profitability, but it will leave you with no younger generations in your company to keep iterating, evolving and creating.

So AI could be short-term amazing for companies like Block (XYZ), which just announced it is firing nearly half its workforce to pivot those resources to AI. But it will also leave companies like Block without a next generation, without any longevity to its planning. And that’s sort of perfect, because CEO Jack Dorsey has never been good at creating.

From the very beginning he wanted to be a copycat of Steve Jobs. The problem with copycatting anyone is that it ignores who YOU are, and what you’re good at. Without a strong right brain at the helm of any company laying off half its workforce, these companies are dead men walking.

But the next generation should not be fearful, or in despair.

I’ve been working with a handful of college undergraduates at Tulane University, especially through their entrepreneurial center.

This generation of Builders is incredibly impressive.

I wouldn’t be able to go toe-to-toe with many of them in their business pitches. They are deeply impressive, and they have an urge to create.

Ok, I know my sample size is not huge and it’s skewing to a right-brain crew being involved in the entrepreneurial center, but my conversation with our intern ended on a point of optimism the other day. He has highly developed top right brain aptitudes, and he has a desire to build. He will be just fine.

Pursuing our Purpose

“Passion whispers to you through your feelings, beckoning you towards your highest good.” -Oprah

When I started writing the manuscript to The Builders many years ago, I would start by claiming that as humans, we have a need for a purpose. We have a need to leave the world a better place than we found it. We have an inherent human need to Build.

Nothing artificial will ever have that fire in its belly. It will never worry about a purpose. But we absolutely need to have a purpose.

One person that has perhaps introduced more people than any others to finding their purpose has been Oprah. In her terrific book Build the Life You Want, she touched on the frequent observation that highly creative artists are often sad or even depressed.

From a neurological perspective, among great composers, a 37% increase in sadness led to another great composition. That’s because when people are sad, they focus on the unpleasant parts of their life, which brings them in ventral lateral pre-frontal cortex.

That right-left brain part of our top brains allows us to focus on other complex problems as well and settle on new strategies, methods, or melodies.

So if the Cirtini peice left you gloomy, or worried about your own industry being massively disrupted, great. Lean in. Go into that top brain and start problem solving. In fact, if you’re not liking this very Substack, then you’re activating the ventrolateral PFC. You’re welcome.

Adapt. Evolve. Pursue your passion and define your purpose. And then Build.

As Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Snape advised the young wizards and witches in Harry Potter:

“The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal... your defenses must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo.”