How to do valuable work in 2026

Some thoughts on how to do valuable work in 2026 (as of Oct 1). I originally wrote this for my engineering-heavy team at Peanut. It was extracted from a series of internal threads, as well as a 1:1 check-in with one of our engineers. I thought I'd share it more widely.

AI writes code better than any of us now. Opus 5.5 is a better coder than me, and you. Knowing what some React hook does, or how a specific API works, used to be specialized knowledge. We all took years to master it, pained through a STEM education or self-learned. Now it's pretty much worthless: it can be bought with a $200 subscription. If your value is "I know javascript and write good frontend code", that's ngmi. AI is savant-level at directed work. It can do a 200k LoC refactor better than I ever could. It can ship basically any well defined spec with zero issues.

How a premature software standard has led to billions in losses

Being first has great costs. If you're in a jungle, you're the one macheting down the vines and shrubs. If you're a cyclist in a race, you're the one pushing the air forward, whilst the cyclists behind can relax in your draft. And if you're developing a novel product, you might make the wrong feature choice, and lose out to competitors that simply avoid your terrible, costly decision.

At what age do humans peak?

I turned 29 yesterday. This will be the last year of my twenties, and that naturally brings up some morbid questions around mortality. I've always found it terribly unjust that human bodies just slowly decay until decrepit death sometime in their eighties (if you're even lucky to get that far).

The Absurdity of Free Will

You have free will. You definitely are responsible for your actions. Right?

After all, you could choose to do any number of things, right this very moment! You could (if only you wanted to) bring your hands together and clap; you could open your mouth and shout something obscene; you could even stand up and dance in circles.

You definitely have free will.

Or do you?

I’m going to argue the opposite. I do not think free will exists, certainly not in the way most people envision it.