Follow the Rabbit

Augmentation over automation: a different way to use AI – Follow the Rabbit Podcast s04e26

Igor bought a Fujifilm camera. That's not the interesting part. The interesting part is what he built to help himself actually learn photography instead of letting the camera collect dust in a drawer after two months. In this episode, we explore what Igor calls the "AI companion." Not an agent that does things for you, but a system that helps you stay with the things you actually want to do. The distinction matters more than you'd think. While the AI industry obsesses over agents that book your flights and manage your calendar, there's a quieter revolution happening. People are building personalized systems that protect them from distraction and help them follow through on their own commitments.Here's the pattern we're noticing: We're surrounded by too much choice. Every product, every service, every platform has adopted the same playbook. "It's up to you!" Maximum optionality. Complete personalization. The result? Paralysis. Netflix users browse for 45 minutes and watch nothing. People buy cameras, then abandon them when the learning curve meets the cognitive load of daily decision-making.The companion approach flips the script. Instead of delegating tasks to a machine because they're "beneath you," you're delegating a piece of your own agency to help yourself stay focused on what actually matters. Igor's camera companion knows his manual, his lenses, and his goals. It patiently guides him through the technical details without judgment, without pushing too hard, and is available whenever he has a question about aperture or wants feedback on a photo.What makes this moment interesting:- The effort required to build these personalized systems has collapsed. What once took weeks of automation setup now takes a conversation and a markdown file.- These companions are shareable. Just text files you can adapt to your own context. Think of them as recipes for commitment devices.- The emergence of "companion thinking" suggests something deeper about what we actually want from AI: not replacement, but augmentation. Not efficiency, but staying power.- And here's the uncomfortable question: Are we solving a systemic problem with individual solutions? Or building the tools we need to navigate a world designed to distract us?The conversation covers various topics, including photography as practice (referencing our episode with Christy George), the unbundling of coaching, and the reasons why typical AI demos fail to align with how humans prefer to make decisions. "Book me the cheapest flight!" sounds efficient. But that's not how we function. Chapter Markers 00:00 – Introduction: Agents vs. Companions 00:48 – Igor Got a Camera: Why Photography, Why Now? 05:49 – The Fujifilm Choice and Escaping the Phone 07:46 – Building the Companion: How It Works 10:14 – Agents vs. Companions: The Core Distinction 14:07 – Learning by Reflection: What the Companion Actually Does 18:46 – Why Does This Work? Automation vs. Augmentation 23:39 – The Choice Overload Problem 31:24 – Sharing Companions: Markdown Files as Recipes 43:25 – How to Get Started --------------- You can also watch this episode on Youtube⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKCXmFazhd1SZxoawCku0w] Follow the Rabbit feels like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two well-read friends at a Berlin coffee shop—smart without being pretentious, critical without being cynical, and deeply engaged with contemporary culture while maintaining historical perspective. The podcast occupies a unique space between trend forecasting, cultural criticism, and philosophical inquiry, delivered with warmth, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for understanding how the world works. Follow the Rabbit is hosted by Igor Schwarzmann & Johannes Kleske Find out more about ⁠⁠Igor Schwarzmann⁠⁠ [https://igorschwarzmann.com/]  Find out moire about ⁠⁠Johannes Kleske⁠⁠ [https://johanneskleske.com/]

Why Organizations Are Rediscovering Systems Thinking with Helge Tennø

Your organization has three departments that should be collaborating. Instead, they're locked in a silent battle—one's built a fortress, another's planning a hostile takeover, and the third is caught in the middle. The manager overseeing this chaos spends all day in meetings and has no map of what's actually happening. Sound familiar? Welcome to what our guest Helge Tennø calls "the Mexican standoff"—and it's precisely why systems thinking is making a comeback. In this episode, we're joined by Helge Tennø, a designer-turned-strategist who spent seven years inside a global pharmaceutical company watching organizations fragment into competing silos. When he went back to consulting in 2024 and asked companies what they were buying, the answer was clear: "Not that old stuff." After 15 years of design thinking, customer journeys, and personas, organizations are exhausted. They've wrung out the cloth, and there's no water left. But here's the twist—nobody was asking for systems thinking by name. They just needed something that could help cross-functional teams speak the same language. Here's what we're noticing: Organizations have spent a decade breaking themselves into smaller and smaller pieces, each with their own data, their own language, their own metrics. What was supposed to increase efficiency has created a coordination nightmare. The customer used to be this unifying force at the top of the org chart, but now they've become a divider—every department owns "their" piece of the customer experience and can't talk to anyone else about it. Meanwhile, managers are responsible for orchestrating these warring factions without any map of how things actually connect. The conversation takes us through some unexpected territory: * Why systems thinking has a "terrible first impression" but solves problems other tools can't touch * How a simple causal diagram can help teams externalize their tacit knowledge * The difference between complicated (where systems thinking works) and complex (where it might not) * Why 95% of AI pilots are failing—and what that has to do with not having a map of your processes * The real future of AI in organizations: not replacing coordinators, but giving workers direct access to coordination tools Chapter Markers: 00:00 - Cold Open: The Corporate Mexican Standoff 01:21 - Introduction & Welcome 04:48 - What Is Systems Thinking? A Simple Definition 10:17 - Why Good Strategy Requires Good Information 14:04 - Why Now? The Comeback of Systems Thinking 19:44 - The Mexican Standoff: When Departments Go to War 23:44 - AI's Role: 95% of Pilots Fail Without a Map 29:21 - Complex vs. Complicated: The Valid Critique 37:46 - The Agency Problem: Maps Without Power to Act 39:47 - The Generalist's Moment 47:03 - Where to Start: Resources & Next Steps 48:46 - Outro Links: * Helge Tennø on LinkedIn [https://no.linkedin.com/in/helgetenno/en] * John Sterman's Introduction to System Dynamics (MIT) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnTwZVviXyY] * Russell Ackoff on Systems Thinking [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqEeIG8aPPk] * Russell Ackoff - Systems Thinking (Clip 1) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbLh7rZ3rhU] * Omidyar Group Systems Practice Workbook PDF [https://www.socialchangeinnovators.com/site/templates/files/Systems%20Practice%20Workbook-012617%20Omediar%20Group.pdf] * Simon Wardley on Wardley Mapping [https://wardleymaps.com/] * Simon Wardley - Introduction to Wardley Mapping [https://medium.com/wardleymaps/an-introduction-to-wardley-mapping-37d8716af218] * Dave Snowden - Cynefin Framework [https://cynefin.io/] * Dave Snowden explaining Cynefin [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oz366X0-8] * BJ Fogg's Behavior Model [https://behaviormodel.org/] --------------- You can also watch this episode on Youtube⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKCXmFazhd1SZxoawCku0w] Follow the Rabbit feels like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two well-read friends at a Berlin coffee shop—smart without being pretentious, critical without being cynical, and deeply engaged with contemporary culture while maintaining historical perspective. The podcast occupies a unique space between trend forecasting, cultural criticism, and philosophical inquiry, delivered with warmth, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for understanding how the world works. Follow the Rabbit is hosted by Igor Schwarzmann & Johannes Kleske Find out more about ⁠⁠Igor Schwarzmann⁠⁠ [https://igorschwarzmann.com/]  Find out moire about ⁠⁠Johannes Kleske⁠⁠ [https://johanneskleske.com/]

The Economics of Little Treats: Introducing Aspiration Cascades

If you've been on TikTok lately, you've definitely seen La Bubus. Those collectible plushies have replaced Dubai chocolate as the instant cultural reference for micro-trends. But here's the thing—La Bubus, $19 strawberries, $20 smoothies, and $300 Le Creuset pots aren't random phenomena. They're symptoms of something much bigger: what Igor calls the Aspiration Cascade. Remember when the path was clear? Get the job, buy the house, buy the car, and signal your status through big purchases. But when 50% of Gen Z still depends on their parents for monthly support, and homeownership feels like a fantasy, what happens to our aspirations? They don't disappear—they compress. In this episode, Igor introduces the Aspiration Cascade Framework—a systematic way to understand how blocked macro-aspirations (houses, cars, extended vacations) cascade down into midi-luxuries (fancy travel, designer subscriptions), then micro-luxuries (Aesop soap, fancy danishes), and finally nano-moments (TikTok scrolling, collectible dopamine hits). The framework reveals why: * You'll spend €300 on a French pot but can't imagine buying a house * Morning coffee rituals involve €18 beans and precision scales * People collect blind box toys and document the unboxing * "Little treats culture" isn't frivolous—it's how we preserve aspiration under economic pressure This isn't about judging consumer choices. It's about understanding the systematic forces—economic barriers, attention fragmentation, social sharing imperatives—that reshape how we dream, spend, and signal who we are. Chapter Markers: * 00:00 Introduction: Little Treats Culture * 03:29 Rich in Cash Flow, Poor in Assets * 09:00 The Aspiration Cascades Framework * 12:12 Why Aspirations Compress * 18:31 How Brands Engineer the Cascade * 23:54 Dopamine Culture's Role * 29:47 The Four Levels Explained * 36:53 Closing Thoughts Links: * “A Little Treat”: How Younger Generations are Changing Economic Norms [https://www.theobserverumd.org/post/a-little-treat-how-younger-generations-are-changing-economic-norms] * The Rise of Dopamine Culture - by Ted Gioia [https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024] * Desire, Dopamine, and the Internet - by L. M. Sacasas [https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/desire-dopamine-and-the-internet] --------------- You can also watch this episode on Youtube⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKCXmFazhd1SZxoawCku0w] Follow the Rabbit feels like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two well-read friends at a Berlin coffee shop—smart without being pretentious, critical without being cynical, and deeply engaged with contemporary culture while maintaining historical perspective. The podcast occupies a unique space between trend forecasting, cultural criticism, and philosophical inquiry, delivered with warmth, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for understanding how the world works. Follow the Rabbit is hosted by Igor Schwarzmann & Johannes Kleske Find out more about ⁠⁠Igor Schwarzmann⁠⁠ [https://igorschwarzmann.com/]  Find out moire about ⁠⁠Johannes Kleske⁠⁠ [https://johanneskleske.com/]

Soft Clubbing: How impossible conditions create new culture

Dancing at dawn isn't rebellion. It's strategy.Igor just wanted his morning coffee. Instead, he walked into a full-blown rave at 10am, complete with turntables and wood dust, desperately clutching his toddler while navigating through impeccably dressed dancers. Welcome to soft clubbing, a trend we first identified in February that has since become delightfully bizarre.What started as quirky morning dance parties has morphed into something far more intriguing: thermal gatherings in saunas, corporate-sponsored run-and-rave combos, and coffee shops transformed into analog listening lounges with walls of vinyl and monster speakers from Singapore to Brussels.Here's what we're noticing: This isn't just about young people partying wrong. It's a masterclass in navigating impossible conditions. When traditional nightlife becomes unaffordable, when every digital interaction demands a decision, when your phone becomes a cognitive burden—you improvise. You dance at dawn because it works better with your work schedule. You steal music and play it on resurrected iPods because it's the only way to escape algorithmic control. You prioritize immediate action over systemic solutions because, quite frankly, there are limited alternatives.What we're discussing in this episode:- Why soft clubbing is simultaneously shallow Instagram content AND genuine community building- The return of music piracy isn't about broken streaming—it's about reclaiming the choice to just hit play- How vinyl walls and turntables have become the new third space aesthetic from Berlin to Singapore- Why oscillating between digital and analog isn't confusion—it's strategyEvery critique of soft clubbing—"it's just rich kids," "it's not real clubbing," "young people these days"—is exactly why it exists. When every move gets dissected, commodified, and scorned within weeks, the only rational response is to keep moving, keep experimenting, and keep refusing to commit to any single identity. As we discover, Gen Z isn't a demographic; it's a strategy.Chapter markers:00:00 - Introduction & Igor's Coffee Shop Rave 01:54 - What Is Soft Clubbing? From February Prediction to Reality 07:50 - The Many Faces: Thermal Gatherings to Corporate Run-and-Raves 09:53 - Why It Exists: Economic Reality and Lost Nightlife 17:31 - The Analog Revival: Vinyl Walls from Singapore to Brussels 26:21 - Music Piracy Returns: iPods and Escaping Algorithms 34:40 - Cognitive Overload and the Choice to Disconnect 37:03 - Gen Z as Survival Strategy, Not Demographic 39:11 - Outro Links: - Yusuf Ntahilaja's essay "2025: The Year of 'Soft Clubbing [https://yusufntahilaja.substack.com/p/2025-the-year-of-soft-clubbing]'" --------------- Follow the Rabbit feels like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two well-read friends at a Berlin coffee shop—smart without being pretentious, critical without being cynical, and deeply engaged with contemporary culture while maintaining historical perspective. The podcast occupies a unique space between trend forecasting, cultural criticism, and philosophical inquiry, delivered with warmth, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for understanding how the world works. Follow the Rabbit is hosted by Igor Schwarzmann & Johannes Kleske Find out more about ⁠⁠Igor Schwarzmann⁠⁠ [https://igorschwarzmann.com/]  Find out moire about ⁠⁠Johannes Kleske⁠⁠ [https://johanneskleske.com/]

From Mass Medicine to TikTok Therapy: The Great Health Unbundling with Cyril Maury

Remember when your doctor knew best? Now TikTok tells you to eat oats instead of buying Ozempic, your Apple Watch judges your sleep, and everyone's either biohacking their way to immortality or drowning in wellness anxiety. Welcome to the great unbundling of medical authority. In this episode, we're joined by Cyril Maury from Stripe Partners, who's spent 15 years studying how people actually behave around health—not what they say they do, but what they really do. Together, we trace a fascinating pendulum swing: from the 20th century's one-size-fits-all pharmaceutical production (where your 60 kg body gets the same ibuprofen dose as someone weighing 150 kg) to today's hyper-personalized health fragmentation. Here's what we're noticing: We're living through an explosion of diagnostic capabilities—we can measure everything from heart rate variability to glucose spikes—but we're stuck in what Cyril calls the “diagnostic-therapy gap.” Your sleep tracker tells you you're stressed, but it can't change your job. Your CGM shows blood sugar spikes, but it can't make you stop eating that croissant. It's like having a Ferrari dashboard in a bicycle. The conversation takes us through some unexpected territory: * Why 30% of sleep tracker users actually sleep worse (hello, orthosomnia). * Wearables are making a mistake by attempting to replace human senses instead of enhancing them. * Cyril holds the view that the future doesn't lie in AI coaches telling you to not exercise today, but rather in conversational tools that inquire about your mood before presenting the data. And yes, we talk about RFK Jr.'s plan to get every American wearing a wearable within four years. Since recording, the picture's gotten even more interesting—his nominee for surgeon general just happens to be the co-founder of Levels, one of America's biggest CGM companies. So we're watching a classic pattern unfold: create the market through policy, then profit from the solution. It's the perfect grift dressed up as public health—mandate the metrics, monetize the anxiety, and call it prevention while you cut actual healthcare coverage. Chapter Markers: 00:00 - Introduction & Setup 01:57 - Welcome & Guest Introduction 04:40 - The Unbundling of Medical Authority 06:39 - Trust Collapse in Healthcare Institutions 08:58 - From Mass Medicine to DIY Dosing 12:51 - The Pendulum Swings: Mass Production to Personalization 15:21 - Two Tiers of Health Seekers 21:29 - Enablers and Repellers of Change 23:32 - The Diagnostic-Therapy Gap 28:09 - Wearables and Biological Age 32:31 - The Interoception Problem 33:28 - Why Igor Doesn't Track 37:34 - The Wrong Path: AI Prescriptions 41:40 - Designing for Real Life 44:37 - The Evolution of Health Tech 47:57 - RFK Jr.'s Wearables for All Campaign 52:13 - Performance vs. Reality 55:17 - The Underrated Health Intervention 56:42 - Outro Links: * Stripe Partners: https://stripepartners.com/ * Cyril Maury on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrilmaury/ * Pew Research Center * Trust in Institutions Survey: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/ * BJ Fogg's Behavior Model: https://www.behaviormodel.org/ * John Oliver segment on MAHA and RFK Jr.: https://youtu.be/3lzfH86avIc?si=OR5S_QrbRBdu2VvT You can also watch this episode on Youtube⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKCXmFazhd1SZxoawCku0w] ------ Follow the Rabbit feels like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two well-read friends at a Berlin coffee shop—smart without being pretentious, critical without being cynical, and deeply engaged with contemporary culture while maintaining historical perspective. The podcast occupies a unique space between trend forecasting, cultural criticism, and philosophical inquiry, delivered with warmth, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for understanding how the world works. Follow the Rabbit is hosted by Igor Schwarzmann & Johannes Kleske Find out more about ⁠⁠Igor Schwarzmann⁠⁠ [https://igorschwarzmann.com/]  Find out moire about ⁠⁠Johannes Kleske⁠⁠ [https://johanneskleske.com/]