Dangerous Little Gods
@dlgs.bsky.social
Dangerous Little Gods is an exploration of how amateurs, dilettantes, and dreamers can finally bring their ideas to life by leveraging the power of AI. https://nickusborne.substack.com
This is our backyard this morning. Welcome to winter in Montreal! 🙂
November 11, 2025 at 9:02 PM
This is our backyard this morning. Welcome to winter in Montreal! 🙂
Mushroom biology + origami + climate data. Why not?
The next brilliant invention won’t be the result of a tidy pitch deck. It’ll grow from what it looks like a mess.
Messy combinations are the birthplace of asymmetric discovery.
And late night conversations with AI can help get you there.
The next brilliant invention won’t be the result of a tidy pitch deck. It’ll grow from what it looks like a mess.
Messy combinations are the birthplace of asymmetric discovery.
And late night conversations with AI can help get you there.
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Mushroom biology + origami + climate data. Why not?
The next brilliant invention won’t be the result of a tidy pitch deck. It’ll grow from what it looks like a mess.
Messy combinations are the birthplace of asymmetric discovery.
And late night conversations with AI can help get you there.
The next brilliant invention won’t be the result of a tidy pitch deck. It’ll grow from what it looks like a mess.
Messy combinations are the birthplace of asymmetric discovery.
And late night conversations with AI can help get you there.
That weird hunch that keeps tugging at your sleeve?
Feed it to AI, and see what answers it pulls from the depths.
Professional studios used to require capital.
Now they run on curiosity and a $20 monthly subscription.
Your kitchen table is the lab. The zine. The studio. The launchpad.
Feed it to AI, and see what answers it pulls from the depths.
Professional studios used to require capital.
Now they run on curiosity and a $20 monthly subscription.
Your kitchen table is the lab. The zine. The studio. The launchpad.
November 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
That weird hunch that keeps tugging at your sleeve?
Feed it to AI, and see what answers it pulls from the depths.
Professional studios used to require capital.
Now they run on curiosity and a $20 monthly subscription.
Your kitchen table is the lab. The zine. The studio. The launchpad.
Feed it to AI, and see what answers it pulls from the depths.
Professional studios used to require capital.
Now they run on curiosity and a $20 monthly subscription.
Your kitchen table is the lab. The zine. The studio. The launchpad.
Nobody Knows What They're Doing
The trick isn’t to fake expertise.
The trick is to build while you’re still confused.
Some of the greatest breakthroughs in science and art came from people experimenting before the rules were written.
Start creating before you’re constrained by the rules.
The trick isn’t to fake expertise.
The trick is to build while you’re still confused.
Some of the greatest breakthroughs in science and art came from people experimenting before the rules were written.
Start creating before you’re constrained by the rules.
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Nobody Knows What They're Doing
The trick isn’t to fake expertise.
The trick is to build while you’re still confused.
Some of the greatest breakthroughs in science and art came from people experimenting before the rules were written.
Start creating before you’re constrained by the rules.
The trick isn’t to fake expertise.
The trick is to build while you’re still confused.
Some of the greatest breakthroughs in science and art came from people experimenting before the rules were written.
Start creating before you’re constrained by the rules.
Expertise used to have a half-life of decades. Now it spoils like milk.
The Python framework you mastered last year? Already outdated. The marketing plan that worked in 2023? Quaint.
While experts are defending their shrinking kingdoms, amateurs are building new worlds with questions and AI.
The Python framework you mastered last year? Already outdated. The marketing plan that worked in 2023? Quaint.
While experts are defending their shrinking kingdoms, amateurs are building new worlds with questions and AI.
October 29, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Expertise used to have a half-life of decades. Now it spoils like milk.
The Python framework you mastered last year? Already outdated. The marketing plan that worked in 2023? Quaint.
While experts are defending their shrinking kingdoms, amateurs are building new worlds with questions and AI.
The Python framework you mastered last year? Already outdated. The marketing plan that worked in 2023? Quaint.
While experts are defending their shrinking kingdoms, amateurs are building new worlds with questions and AI.
The 48-Hour Publishing Rule
Perfectionism is just fear wearing a fancy costume.
Try this instead: Give yourself 48 hours. Make something. Ship it.
Not perfect. Not polished. Just done enough to share.
Every shipped project teaches you more than ten perfect plans sitting in your drafts folder.
Perfectionism is just fear wearing a fancy costume.
Try this instead: Give yourself 48 hours. Make something. Ship it.
Not perfect. Not polished. Just done enough to share.
Every shipped project teaches you more than ten perfect plans sitting in your drafts folder.
October 28, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The 48-Hour Publishing Rule
Perfectionism is just fear wearing a fancy costume.
Try this instead: Give yourself 48 hours. Make something. Ship it.
Not perfect. Not polished. Just done enough to share.
Every shipped project teaches you more than ten perfect plans sitting in your drafts folder.
Perfectionism is just fear wearing a fancy costume.
Try this instead: Give yourself 48 hours. Make something. Ship it.
Not perfect. Not polished. Just done enough to share.
Every shipped project teaches you more than ten perfect plans sitting in your drafts folder.
Tired of being judged? Read on... nickusborne.substack.com/p/the-joy-of...
The Joy of No Longer Being Graded or Judged
We've been trained our entire lives to prepare for exams, assessments, and reviews
nickusborne.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Tired of being judged? Read on... nickusborne.substack.com/p/the-joy-of...
Making a new friend on my cycle ride...
October 25, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Making a new friend on my cycle ride...
Who knew the origins of Dangerous Little Gods went back so far? 😉
October 22, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Who knew the origins of Dangerous Little Gods went back so far? 😉
You look around and everyone plays it safe. Follows the rules. Waits their turn.
But you don't buy it anymore. And you're not alone.
There are others who see what you see. Who feel what you feel. Who want to create what you want to create.
We're the Dangerous Little Gods.
Join us.
But you don't buy it anymore. And you're not alone.
There are others who see what you see. Who feel what you feel. Who want to create what you want to create.
We're the Dangerous Little Gods.
Join us.
October 21, 2025 at 11:52 AM
You look around and everyone plays it safe. Follows the rules. Waits their turn.
But you don't buy it anymore. And you're not alone.
There are others who see what you see. Who feel what you feel. Who want to create what you want to create.
We're the Dangerous Little Gods.
Join us.
But you don't buy it anymore. And you're not alone.
There are others who see what you see. Who feel what you feel. Who want to create what you want to create.
We're the Dangerous Little Gods.
Join us.
A reading list for amateurs, dilettantes, generalists, and dreamers. nickusborne.substack.com/p/a-reading-...
A Reading List For Dangerous Little Gods
Books that speak to amateurs, dilettantes and dreamers.
nickusborne.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:39 PM
A reading list for amateurs, dilettantes, generalists, and dreamers. nickusborne.substack.com/p/a-reading-...
If you like it, wear it.
October 18, 2025 at 3:47 PM
If you like it, wear it.
Been called "unfocused"? "All over the place"? "Jack of all trades, master of none"?
Good.
The most dangerous ideas live at intersections nobody else is exploring.
You're free to crash worlds together and see what happens.
That's not a limitation. That's your DLG superpower.
Good.
The most dangerous ideas live at intersections nobody else is exploring.
You're free to crash worlds together and see what happens.
That's not a limitation. That's your DLG superpower.
October 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Been called "unfocused"? "All over the place"? "Jack of all trades, master of none"?
Good.
The most dangerous ideas live at intersections nobody else is exploring.
You're free to crash worlds together and see what happens.
That's not a limitation. That's your DLG superpower.
Good.
The most dangerous ideas live at intersections nobody else is exploring.
You're free to crash worlds together and see what happens.
That's not a limitation. That's your DLG superpower.
You're a Maker Trapped in Consumer Mode
You scroll. You admire.
But you ache to CREATE something. Not just consume what everyone else made.
AI just handed you the tools to remember who you actually are.
You need to start making.
Even if it's messy. Especially if it's messy.
You scroll. You admire.
But you ache to CREATE something. Not just consume what everyone else made.
AI just handed you the tools to remember who you actually are.
You need to start making.
Even if it's messy. Especially if it's messy.
October 15, 2025 at 5:45 PM
You're a Maker Trapped in Consumer Mode
You scroll. You admire.
But you ache to CREATE something. Not just consume what everyone else made.
AI just handed you the tools to remember who you actually are.
You need to start making.
Even if it's messy. Especially if it's messy.
You scroll. You admire.
But you ache to CREATE something. Not just consume what everyone else made.
AI just handed you the tools to remember who you actually are.
You need to start making.
Even if it's messy. Especially if it's messy.
You don’t need a publisher to print your story.
You don’t need a label to drop your album.
You don’t need a university to start your research.
The studio has shrunk. The gatekeepers have vanished.
All you need is curiosity and your favorite AI model
You don’t need a label to drop your album.
You don’t need a university to start your research.
The studio has shrunk. The gatekeepers have vanished.
All you need is curiosity and your favorite AI model
October 15, 2025 at 11:59 AM
You don’t need a publisher to print your story.
You don’t need a label to drop your album.
You don’t need a university to start your research.
The studio has shrunk. The gatekeepers have vanished.
All you need is curiosity and your favorite AI model
You don’t need a label to drop your album.
You don’t need a university to start your research.
The studio has shrunk. The gatekeepers have vanished.
All you need is curiosity and your favorite AI model
Paid subscribers to the Dangerous Little Gods newsletter get immediate access to the DLG Playground, a spacial thinking app that stimulates collision-based innovation.
October 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Paid subscribers to the Dangerous Little Gods newsletter get immediate access to the DLG Playground, a spacial thinking app that stimulates collision-based innovation.
We’ve been trained to organize our thoughts into neat categories. Projects go in project folders. Ideas get sorted by topic. Everything has its place, filed away in hierarchies that make sense but kill creative possibility.
This works fine for retrieval. It’s terrible for discovery and creativity.
This works fine for retrieval. It’s terrible for discovery and creativity.
October 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
We’ve been trained to organize our thoughts into neat categories. Projects go in project folders. Ideas get sorted by topic. Everything has its place, filed away in hierarchies that make sense but kill creative possibility.
This works fine for retrieval. It’s terrible for discovery and creativity.
This works fine for retrieval. It’s terrible for discovery and creativity.
A whole new way of thinking and coming up with new ideas... nickusborne.substack.com/p/introducin...
Introducing the DLG Playground: Where Surprising Ideas Take Shape
The DLG Playground is a New App to Stimulate Dangerous Thinking
nickusborne.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:08 PM
A whole new way of thinking and coming up with new ideas... nickusborne.substack.com/p/introducin...
OK… version 1.0 of the DLG Playground app is almost ready to rock and roll.
It’s all about spatial thinking, the “adjacent possible”, and playing around to surface interesting ideas. Yup… our kind of thing.
Exclusively for paid subscribers… and launching on Monday.
Scary and exciting! 🤪
It’s all about spatial thinking, the “adjacent possible”, and playing around to surface interesting ideas. Yup… our kind of thing.
Exclusively for paid subscribers… and launching on Monday.
Scary and exciting! 🤪
October 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
OK… version 1.0 of the DLG Playground app is almost ready to rock and roll.
It’s all about spatial thinking, the “adjacent possible”, and playing around to surface interesting ideas. Yup… our kind of thing.
Exclusively for paid subscribers… and launching on Monday.
Scary and exciting! 🤪
It’s all about spatial thinking, the “adjacent possible”, and playing around to surface interesting ideas. Yup… our kind of thing.
Exclusively for paid subscribers… and launching on Monday.
Scary and exciting! 🤪
Burnout? Not so much a problem... maybe more like a message to make changes nickusborne.substack.com/p/from-burno...
From Burnout to Renewal Through Rebellion
Burnout doesn't always look like collapse. Sometimes it looks like Tuesday.
nickusborne.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Burnout? Not so much a problem... maybe more like a message to make changes nickusborne.substack.com/p/from-burno...
Badges? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges
The amateur used to be mocked.
The dilettante dismissed.
But guess what?
Now we have AI tools that make credentials optional.
We’re not underqualified - we’re uncaged.
When the credentialed blink, we build.
The amateur used to be mocked.
The dilettante dismissed.
But guess what?
Now we have AI tools that make credentials optional.
We’re not underqualified - we’re uncaged.
When the credentialed blink, we build.
October 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Badges? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges
The amateur used to be mocked.
The dilettante dismissed.
But guess what?
Now we have AI tools that make credentials optional.
We’re not underqualified - we’re uncaged.
When the credentialed blink, we build.
The amateur used to be mocked.
The dilettante dismissed.
But guess what?
Now we have AI tools that make credentials optional.
We’re not underqualified - we’re uncaged.
When the credentialed blink, we build.
Go through life wearing a big, bright question mark… Art by Niki De Saint Phalle
September 30, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Go through life wearing a big, bright question mark… Art by Niki De Saint Phalle
Close to or already retired? You're just getting started...
From Retirement to Rebellion
You’ve traded meetings for experiments. And you’re just getting started.
nickusborne.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Close to or already retired? You're just getting started...
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw
September 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw