Standing on the Shoulders of Substack Giants (and Starting Anyway)
I didn’t expect to write my first Substack for someone else, but I’m glad I did.
Nick Potkalitsky asked me to contribute a guest essay for his fantastic newsletter NicNet, and that piece just went live:
👉 Brain Rot Isn’t Real (But Cognitive Drain Is)
It means a lot to have started this writing journey in conversation with someone whose work I genuinely respect, someone asking big questions, staying grounded in the messy middle, and making space for other voices to step in.
So here I am, stepping in. Slowly. Probably awkwardly. But also with curiosity and a stubborn refusal to let the loudest voices flatten the nuance.
How did I stumble into the brain rot discourse?
I was casually scrolling my LinkedIn feed when I saw someone repost an article claiming that MIT researchers had “proven” that AI use was causing brain rot.
Bold claim. Too bold.
So I did what I always do when something sounds a little too tidy: I dug deeper. I pulled the actual study, read it (yes, the whole thing), and what I found was… not what the headlines were saying. Not even close.If you read the brain rot piece, this is where I’ll be unpacking more:
More breakdowns of viral AI studies
More uncomfortable questions about learning, cognition, and equity
And more ways we can think together without defaulting to hype or fear
Thanks to Nick for giving me a launchpad!
I’m standing on the shoulders of a Substack giant (whether he likes the title or not).
More soon,
Tina