Grasping Exponentialism, Efficient AI, Talent Density, & The Pursuit of Togetherness

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Grasping Exponentialism, Efficient AI, Talent Density, & The Pursuit of Togetherness<br>How do we grasp the implications of exponentialism? This edition explores this, as well as the era of efficient AI, people management, and our craving for shared experiences.

Scott Belsky<br>Jun 14, 2026<br>∙ Paid

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Edition #44 of Implications.<br>This edition explores forecasts and implications around: (1) grasping exponentialism, (2) the era of efficient AI, (3) talent density scoring and impact-based hiring, (4) what the entertainment world must learn from the Knicks and (5) some surprises at the end, as always.

If you’re new, here’s the rundown on what to expect. This ~monthly analysis is written for founders + investors I work with, colleagues, and a select group of subscribers. I aim for quality, density, and provocation vs. frequency and trendiness. We don’t cover news; we explore the implications of what’s happening . My goal is to ignite discussion, socialize edges that may someday become the center, and help all of us connect dots.

If you missed the big annual analysis or more recent editions of Implications, check out recent analysis and archives here. A few recommendations based on reader engagement:<br>We humans are designed to forget. Continuously replaying the details of every fight, fear, and trauma would undoubtedly cripple life’s requirement to let go, learn from mistakes, give and get second chances, and expand our minds beyond the confines of the past. Our malleable memory is a feature, not a bug. What are the implications of remembering everything?

Some of the world’s greatest artists and most ambitious storytellers are modernizing their craft and raising the bar of world-class storytelling through a series of workflows and techniques that I’ve started calling Precision Generative Workflows (PGW) with friends and artists. These techniques are modern brushes and chisels. These new workflows don’t start with prompts and they don’t create slop. Instead they enable more creative risk-taking without compromising creative control.

Originality is the primary ingredient of timeless creations. What does this mean for the demand side of entertainment? As our feeds become filled with pirated IP violations and copycat scenes, what will we crave more of?

Navigating Cambrian Explosions

One of our peculiar human tendencies is always thinking “this time is different” when, in fact, history does repeat itself. However, there are undoubtedly periods of exponential change like “Cambrian explosions,” periods when unparalleled evolution happens incredibly fast. At the risk of falling for humanity’s natural narcism about the importance of OUR lifetimes, I do believe we’re living in such a time.<br>“How do we grasp exponentialism?” As you examine the data about AI capabilities, cost curves, and certainly frontier technology, the only thing more striking than how fast (and non-linear) everything is growing is how wrong our forecasts have been. I was speaking to an Anthropic investor recently about how even their ambitious internal forecasts have nonetheless routinely underestimated results in terms of compute requirements and revenue generated. Linear growth models are falling short, and we humans are simply struggling to grasp the implications of this new technology. Even one of the companies at the center of this moment, with better data than anyone else in the world, is having a hard time grasping just how fast it is all happening! What should we take away here? Let’s acknowledge that technological advancement and societal change are growing at an accelerating, exponential rate … and let’s find creative ways to grasp what this could actually mean.

“How do we become comfortable with the inevitable?” As we do begin to grasp the implications of exponentialism, I see friends in leadership roles across industries struggling with realizations that are becoming clear faster than they’re ready for them. Whether it is artist friends watching parts of their process completely refactored or lawyer friends questioning the business model of their firms, they are trying to become comfortable with inevitable changes without the extended periods of socialization that humans typically require. It dawned on me: This is why I dedicate time to this monthly analysis. If science fiction is a prototype for the future, discussion of the implications is the accelerant for our readiness.

Let’s dive into Edition #44

The Era of Efficient AI

While everyone is pontificating about the world’s insatiable appetite for compute (and the dizzying infrastructure investments that are pouring gasoline on every company involved in this complex industrial stack), we need to consider the practical possibility that most of what we need from AI will soon come from very cheap and likely “local” models that run on our own computers and phones. We may look back at...