Ed. 12: The Aquarius Economy

Plus, the first 'flesh-based human servant' VC job!

If you haven’t noticed, I have been exploring the phrase “Aquarius Economy” lately, which is my growing thesis on the second order effects of AI: a world marked by transformation, human agency, and connectedness. We are throwing coups, y’all.

💫 What is the Aquarius Economy? 💫

The term takes inspiration from astrology, which charts Pluto entering Aquarius for the first time in 250 years. The transit started in January 2024 and is widely cited as a signifier of large societal transformation bringing forth “dramatic and painful experiences in order to shed light on truth and bring us incredibly profound growth."

Sound woo woo to you? That is because it is… but that doesn’t matter: what matters is that millions of people believe in these cycles, and make business and life decisions based on their reality. It’s in the ether. Search it on TikTok or Instagram and you will see for yourself…

It’s that new new; a way of existing as humans amid new technologies and societal structures. And while I do not possess a crystal ball, I do know that things will change dramatically from now on — it’s like opening a window in your house; once you see what’s in the window, you cannot unsee what you saw.

So what happens after AI eats all software, all knowledge work, all engineering, and addicts the masses to offloading their brains from the burdens of critical thinking, writing and complex contribution?

In my view, the Aquarius Economy emerges: where distinctly human agency gains social clout and takes new forms; where imagination, empathy, and connection are as critical to commerce as algorithms and AI. The paradox of “humanity v. technology” comes to a head during this time, and we as humans learn to co-exist–with each other and technology– to create new normative priorities for business and work-life.

I am working through a white paper to detail exactly what I mean by this in vivid detail, but for now, let me highlight one example of the paradox of the Aquarius Economy and how it plays out:

Let’s look at the Ghibli ChatGPT-4o moment. ChatGPT released their new flagship model that “can reason across audio, vision and text in real time” and the internet went wild, posting renders of their teams, friends, and themselves in the style of Japan’s Studio Ghibli cartoons.

Me as an Alpaca-riding heroine in Ghibli style

What are the paradoxes that exist here? Hayao Miyazaki’s vision and mastery was plagiarized without his consent or compensation; but on the other - everyone knew the images were fakes, and his legendary status only heightened with the mass proliferation of his style (many people in my network didn’t know what Studio Ghibli was until that moment, surprisingly). An MLM created these images at a pace humans never could; but human connectedness and desire for community created relevance for the images, without which they would be rendered (pun intended) meaningless. Human agency and technological agency are co-dependent, but at the same time their unique and independent value heightens with the advancement of each.

These paradoxes are intrinsic to the Aquarius Economy, and push us to consider what value human contribution retains in the long-run. I have ideas on this, but I don’t want to spill the tea too soon before my research is complete…

Follow along as I attempt to draft this paper by end of July. I will be curious what my readers think. Also, importantly, I will not be using AI to write the paper. It becomes increasingly important to note where authentic human expression lives and it will be alive and well here on Substack.

Speaking of Human co-existence with AI…

In what might be the most audacious job listing of 2025, No Cap – the world's first autonomous AI investor – is seeking a "flesh-based servant" to serve as its physical embodiment in the human world. This isn't a satirical headline from The Onion; it's the latest experiment from No Cap's creator Jeff Wilson, designed to upend our assumptions about the irreplaceability of human venture capitalists.

While some might view No Cap as a threatening vision of our economic future, it could alternatively be seen as liberating. Perhaps humans are best suited for the aspects of business that machines cannot replicate – imagination, empathy, relationships, and the fundamentally physical aspects of existence.

Check out my latest on this in Forbes.

Happy Father’s Day

For those who celebrate. A dad joke for the road:

“Want to hear a joke about pizza?”

“…naw, it’s too cheesy?”