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- #007 - AI, Growth, and the Power of Taking Chances
#007 - AI, Growth, and the Power of Taking Chances
How AI Fuels Creativity and Why Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone Leads to Breakthroughs

read time ~4 mins
Hey everyone,
This is Dan from ReadWriteDev.com
In today’s newsletter, I’ve got a review of Ethan Mollick’s new “Co-Intelligence” book. I’ll also share my new atomic essay on why nerves and fear are signs of growth. Then I wrap things up with a first-look at the new social preview components that I build for Content Flywheel, with the help of Cursor and Claude.
Let’s get started!
what i’m reading…
A couple of weeks ago I finished “Co-Intelligence” by Ethan Mollick. It’s a newer book about how AI is evolving into something we can work alongside to be more creative and productive. I’ve been thinking a lot about AI Agents and the future of AI <> Human interactions, so I wanted to check out this book and hear Ethan’s thoughts on the subject.
Just to warn you, I personally wasn’t a huge fan of this book, but I’m also probably not the target audience, so take my notes with a grain of salt:
AI as a Creative Partner: The book discusses how AI can enhance creativity by working alongside humans. He makes some interesting points, but the examples provided tend to oversimplify things, and you can tell he’s talking to readers with less of an understanding of today’s AI tools.
Co-Intelligence: Mollick emphasizes combining human intuition with AI’s computational power. While the idea is interesting to me (from an AI Agent standpoint), the book doesn’t go into the current approaches or limitations that exist. As far as I remember, he doesn’t even really predict what the future innovations in this area might be, it’s more of a high-level overview.
Practical Applications of AI: The book gives examples of how AI can boost productivity and problem-solving across fields like education and business. This part might be the most helpful for non-technical readers. But honestly, most people interested in AI have probably already learned about these practical uses by simply experimenting with the tools.
Ethics and Responsible AI Use: As expected, a recurring theme is the importance of aligning AI with human values. While the ethical discussions are valuable, they might feel basic for those already familiar with these hotly debated topics. I didn’t feel like the author brought much new to the table.
The book is written in an approachable style and is clearly aimed at non-technical users who want to understand AI without getting into the complexities. If you regularly use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity, you’ve probably already encountered or thought through most of the topics covered in this book.
Personally, I was hoping for something more technical and forward-thinking. The content feels like it might become outdated by the end of 2025, even though the book was just released in April 2024. This could be why the author chose not to dive deeply into the details, because there’s still so much innovation happening in this space. Then again, maybe I’m overestimating how quickly and widely these AI tools will actually be adopted.
what i’m writing…
Yesterday I wrote an atomic essay called “If You’re Not Scared, You’re Not Growing”, inspired by the idea that nerves and fear are signs of growth. Every time I create something new — this newsletter, a blog post, a new side project — I get that feeling of doubt, a voice whispering, “What if this flops?”
This essay talks about why discomfort is essential for personal growth and why avoiding fear often means avoiding opportunities to level up. It’s a reminder that nerves are proof that you’re going out on a limb, taking chances, and growing as a result.
If you’ve ever felt like fear was holding you back, this essay might inspire you to see it differently. I’d love for you to read it and share your thoughts!
what i’m developing…
This week I’ve been using Cursor.sh and Claude to help me build these awesome new “social preview” components in Content Flywheel.
Previously, when a social post was imported, I was just rendering the content in a Notion-style text editor. These new components allow you to view imported content more visually, as if you were looking at it directly in YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.. When possible, I’m also pulling in the latest engagement numbers (likes, comments, shares) and displaying them on the component as well.
My problem is, as you’ll see in my Tweet below, this functionality definitely isn’t required to launch an MVP version of my product, and I’m really just procrastinating at this point 😅
I’m hoping to finish up the pricing/billing functionality of the product this weekend, and hopefully “launch” the product in early October. I’m sure I’ll have an update on my progress in my next newsletter!
tweet of the week…
Everyone: "Stop worrying about the details and just launch @ContentFlywheel already!"
Me: "... but I really need my replica YouTube player to look perfect and display realtime video stats just incase @gregisenberg ever uses it" x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Dan Schoonmaker (@DanSchoonmaker)
12:31 AM • Sep 20, 2024
Thanks for reading! This week, I want to ask:
What’s a bold step you’ve taken recently that pushed you outside your comfort zone?
Share it with me on Twitter, and let’s talk about how stepping into discomfort leads to growth!