Post

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
Click again on or Share Via icon
Click on Copy Link to Tweet
Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
More info at Twitter Help

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Aug 1, 2025 • 14 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X

Scrolly

Gas station coffee destroys $7 hipster brews in blind taste tests.

Costs $1. Takes 30 seconds.

Yet we spend $74B on inferior coffee.

The psychology behind this paradox predicts AI's adoption crisis:

Advanced coffee machines now exist that beat any barista.

Engineers spent years perfecting them.

Zero wait time. Perfect consistency. A fraction of the cost.

So why does Starbucks still employ 346,000 humans?

Because we don't buy coffee.

We buy the morning ritual. The barista who knows our name.

The handwritten cup that makes us feel seen.

Even when machines make objectively better coffee, we choose humans:

This same force killed the eBook revolution.

2010 prediction: Physical books dead by 2020.

2024 reality: Print sales hit record highs.

We pay 3x more to hold paper when text is free on our phones.

E-commerce tells an identical story.

Experts swore online shopping would hit 100% by now.

Actual number? Stuck at 20%.

We still fight for parking and wait in lines for stuff Amazon delivers in hours.

The pattern started 150 years ago.

The Industrial Revolution made everything perfect and cheap.

Identical products. Zero defects. Mass scale.

Then buyers did something economists couldn't explain:

They paid MORE for imperfect handmade goods.

Factory precision became a disadvantage.

"Artisanal" meant expensive flaws.

Machine efficiency is lost to human touch.

This is the Uncanny Valley of products.

Too perfect = rejection.

We need the human element. The tiny imperfections.

The inefficiency signals that someone cared.

But one category breaks every rule:

Money.

Nobody wants artisanal currency with personality.

We demand uniformity. Reliability. Zero surprises.

Function crushes feeling when it comes to finance.

That's why stablecoins will achieve what coffee robots can't.

Total market domination.

No charm needed. No human touch required.

Just perfect digital dollars that work every time.

The companies that survive AI will master this distinction:

Where does technology win? Where do humans?

Coffee shops need baristas. Banks need stablecoins.

Miss this and you're Blockbuster.

At Brava Labs, we've mapped these patterns across industries.

We help leaders identify where AI delivers 10x value.

And where human connection drives competitive advantage.

The future belongs to those who know the difference.

Ready to navigate the AI paradox in your industry?

Get weekly insights on tech adoption and human value:

lnkd.in/ddVzZJgg

Video/Image Credits:
Capital One Shopping: capitaloneshopping.com/research/onlin…
The Penny Hoarder: youtube.com/watch?v=WzJm5Q…
RobotX AI Barista: youtube.com/shorts/YP2dhRi…
Umble Coffee Co: youtube.com/shorts/ZYA2o_G…
TRT World: youtube.com/shorts/OrlEi-_…
The Diary Of A CEO: youtube.com/watch?v=W4tqbE…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @Gccooke

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Oct 13, 2025

Circle just killed crypto's sacred rule.

Their president wants "reversible transactions" on blockchain—a feature crypto was designed to eliminate.

The $74B stablecoin issuer is courting banks over purists.

Here's why this heretical move could unlock mainstream adoption (+ why crypto VCs are calling it "offensive"):

First, understand what's being challenged here.

For years, irreversibility has been sacred in blockchain.

Once a transaction settles, it's permanent.

No one can reverse it.

This wasn't a bug - it was the whole point:

The 2008 crisis taught crypto founders one lesson.

Banks freeze accounts.

Payment processors deny service.

Governments confiscate assets.

The solution? Remove intermediaries entirely.

Make finality automatic through code instead of banks.

Read 22 tweets

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Sep 22, 2025

AI is rewiring your brain—and Silicon Valley says that's the point.

Reid Hoffman: "10,000 prompts is the new 10,000 hours."

You lose detailed problem-solving. You gain 10x ambition.

Why this trade-off is reshaping how leaders think:

MIT researchers measured students outsourcing essay writing to ChatGPT.

83% couldn't recall what they'd written. Brain activity plummeted.

But here's the fallacy: That's not how ambitious professionals use AI.

The study measured copy-paste. It didn't measure leadership.

When I use ChatGPT as a founder, it's not to replace my thinking.

It's to multiply it.

I prompt like I'd brief a junior colleague. Then review and edit like I'm managing a team.

The intellectual framing stays mine. The leverage becomes 10x.

Read 16 tweets

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Sep 19, 2025

A crypto company is hoarding $8.7B in gold bars.

Not Bitcoin. Not digital assets. Physical gold.

Mining executives call Tether "the weirdest company ever."

Here's the shocking reason they're buying up gold mines:

Tether runs USDT, the world's biggest stablecoin.

$168 billion market cap.
$5.7 billion profits in just the first half of 2024.

They're one of the largest US Treasury holders on the planet.

But their gold strategy caught everyone off guard:

Those $8.7 billion in gold bars?

They're sitting in Zurich vaults right now.
Physical bullion backing their digital operations.

CEO Paolo Ardoino calls gold "natural bitcoin."

His next move shocked the mining industry:

Read 13 tweets

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Sep 12, 2025

AI could make your kids 500 times richer than you.

Tech experts predict 20% annual economic growth.

But unless you're properly positioned, you'll miss the real opportunity.

Here's what you need to know to benefit:

First, let's understand what 20% growth actually means.

At that rate, the economy doubles 3 times per decade.

Your children grow up in a completely different world.

Centuries of progress compressed into decades.

ARK Invest predicts 7% annual GDP growth from AI.

That alone would double living standards every decade.

Epoch AI goes further.
They suggest 20% is possible once preconditions are met.

These aren't random numbers:

Read 14 tweets

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Sep 8, 2025

Trump's Treasury pick Scott Bessent has a solution to America's $29 trillion debt crisis:

Force crypto to buy it!

Stablecoin companies must legally hold US Treasury bills as collateral. That's $2 trillion in guaranteed buyers.

Here's how crypto replaces foreign governments as America's lender:

First, understand what just happened.

Congress passed the Genius Act in July.

New law: Stablecoins must back their dollars with ultra-safe assets.

Translation: Treasury bills become mandatory.

Today's stablecoin market holds $250 billion.

Bessent told Congress he expects it to reach $2 trillion in the coming years.

That's 8x growth from where we are now.

Every new digital dollar needs Treasury backing.

Read 16 tweets

GC Cooke

@Gccooke

Sep 5, 2025

The guy who used AI to make a fake Biden and trick voters in 2024 got fined $6 million.

His amateur operation only fooled 5,000 people.

But he accidentally created the blueprint that political operatives will use to target 50 million Americans.

Here's the terrifying blueprint they'll use (and how to spot it):

That fake Biden robocall in New Hampshire was just the beginning.

A political consultant created it with voice-cloning tools. Got caught. Faced felony charges.

The FCC's $6 million fine was the first penalty for AI voter suppression.

But while we celebrated catching one guy, something bigger was happening:

In 2024, elections took place in 64 countries.

That's 49% of the world's population voting.

38 of those countries saw deepfakes used to manipulate voters.

We weren't dealing with isolated incidents anymore: