July 23, 2026

I have always preferred a Spindrift to a Diet Coke or a Poppi and I might've connected the dots a few minutes ago on why. Here's what happened: I was sitting here sipping my delicious pink lemonade Spindrift when I noticed some never-before-seen text on the side of my can. The text read "Proudly made the hard way with real squeezed fruit." A quick google search confirmed it for me. Poppi rely on concentrated fruit and vegetable juices, and the fruit flavored Diet Cokes rely on "natural flavor essences" (whatever that means) meaning neither competitor is doing any bit of squeezing. Aka, they are taking the easy way out. My Spindrift drink is what has brought me on here today to discuss how else I am seeing this classic theme of "nothing good ever comes easy" pop up. The rapidly evolving capabilities of AI have made many skills feel less important. AI can write well, organize thoroughly, and spit out a client worthy deck quickly. That said, "AI Slop" lives around every corner of the internet these days, making the real stuff stand out all the more. Recently I have been pleasantly reminded of two things 1. Technology is not yet easily capable of recreating the types of beautiful multi-media art we see produced by humans 2. Respect is a basic human characteristic. Humans are respecting art that is being created the hard way. By humans. I have noticed this in the advertising space as companies are starting to make ads about the laborious effort it took to make said creative ads. For example, Macbook Neo's product launch video showcased the computer's features getting physically added to a blank laptop with hand miniatures and stop motion. Apple then released a BTS of how it was made. Similarly, Coinbase released an ad that appeared to be filmed inside of a video game, only to later reveal in a BTS video, that everything was done with real actors through well executed costuming, and set design. Both examples and their subsequent BTS videos gained large public support, validating the idea that meticulously made campaigns, or work that was "made the hard way" arguably gains more respect. The theme of "nothing good ever came easy" translates over into all sectors of life. To achieve the physique we want, to maintain the love we want, to live the life we dream of. It requires real human effort.