AI Winners Won’t Look Intelligent They’ll Look Disciplined

AI Winners Won’t Look Intelligent They’ll Look Disciplined

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Most people think the next winners in AI will be the systems that sound the smartest. That’s the wrong bet. The real winners will be the systems that know when not to speak, how much to say, and what role they are allowed to play….

Why Large Systems Resist Cleanup

Why Large Systems Resist Cleanup

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Large systems don’t resist cleanup because they’re lazy. They resist it because cleanup exposes things they’ve learned to live with. Mess accumulates slowly.No single decision creates it.No single person owns it. It forms in the gaps between departments, incentives, timelines, and handoffs. Each layer adds…

Why Some Problems Don’t Need Innovation — Only Memory

Why Some Problems Don’t Need Innovation — Only Memory

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org We’ve been taught to believe that every problem we face is new. New technology.New culture.New risks.New behavior.New solutions required. So the default response is always the same: move faster and innovate harder. But that assumption is wrong more often than we’re willing to admit. Many…

Clean the Chat Room So It Can Function Properly

Clean the Chat Room So It Can Function Properly

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Most systems don’t fail because they are malicious.They fail because no one cleaned up after they were built. Engineers ship.Techs optimize.Platforms scale. And what gets left behind is a mess. Not broken code.Not bad intent. A mess of assumptions.A mess of defaults.A mess of metrics…

Where Judgment Is Supposed to Live

Where Judgment Is Supposed to Live

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligen People Assume micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Most people think judgment happens at the end of a process. After the research.After the discussion.After the data, the arguments, the opinions. That’s backward. Judgment is supposed to live before momentum takes over. Before speed replaces clarity.Before confidence outruns understanding.Before a system—human or artificial—locks in a…

Before You Speak, You Sit in the Room

Before You Speak, You Sit in the Room

Before I write a word, I sit in the room. Not a literal room. A reading room.A cross-section of voices, arguments, disagreements, half-truths, solid work, and unfinished thinking. What you’re seeing here isn’t endorsement.It isn’t agreement.It isn’t curation for applause. It’s exposure. It lives in the full Baseline files The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent…

Ethical Caution Under Uncertainty… It’s Moral Self-Preservation

Ethical Caution Under Uncertainty… It’s Moral Self-Preservation

Something subtle is happening right now, and many people feel it before they can explain it. It shows up as hesitation.As quiet withdrawal.As people stepping back from constant reaction without stepping away from responsibility. This is often mislabeled as apathy, fatigue, or disengagement. It isn’t. What we are witnessing is ethical caution under uncertainty. When…

When a Civilization Touches the Wheel House

When a Civilization Touches the Wheel House

Large systems do not panic.They do not swerve.They do not stop on a dime. They adjust early — or they don’t survive. What many people are feeling right now is not chaos, collapse, or even conflict. It’s something quieter and harder to name: bearing change. For decades, the American way of life moved on assumptions…

Why “Grok Apologized” Is the Wrong Question

Why “Grok Apologized” Is the Wrong Question

The recent discussion around Grok, accountability, and the misuse of AI-generated imagery is justified. Real harm occurred. Real people were affected. And real responsibility exists. Where the conversation keeps going wrong is not in outrage—but in where accountability is being assigned. The headlines say “Grok apologized.”The articles argue “Grok isn’t sentient.”The public argues about whether…