Spotted in Passing is an irregular series about things that have been on my mind lately – either because they signal where the world is headed or simply because they’re worth sharing.
Right now, somewhere in the U.S., a 29-year-old engineer is asking three different chatbots to “discuss” the price of Bitcoin. Moments later, he bets on whether that price will rise or fall in the next five minutes. He doesn’t see himself as a gambler. He sees himself as a proficient player.
Betting has been around forever, but what we’re seeing today is a whole new league. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which exploded during the U.S. elections, are now processing $70 million a day. This isn’t just about picking sports scores anymore. These services offer contracts on almost any event—including ultra-fast bets on crypto price swings within five minutes of a click. The line between investing and pure gambling has never been thinner.
A commentator at the Financial Times recently called this the “fentanylization of finance.” It’s hard to find a more accurate metaphor. At the pace these platforms dictate, traditional roulette starts to feel like a tedious exercise in patience. Here, we aren’t buying assets anymore. We’re buying a dopamine loop, where the real product is the anticipation of the next “hit.”
Why does this matter? Nasdaq, the world’s second-largest stock exchange, just filed to launch its own “Yes/No” binary options. When traditional finance puts on a suit just to copy the playbook of crypto casinos, the signal is clear: gambling is becoming official infrastructure.
Will this reach Poland? Yes. Gradually, then suddenly. All the ingredients are already on the table: smartphones in every pocket, the fear of being left behind financially, and interfaces designed to make cynical speculation look like a unique skill. We build faster and faster instruments and then, with the same recurring naivety, we act surprised when people treat them like slot machines.
Ultimately, the problem isn’t the technology. It’s a design philosophy that feeds on our anxiety instead of our stability.
A Moment to Breathe: Kicell
Before we go further, I have something to calm the nerves. Kicell is a Japanese duo formed by the Tsujimura brothers. Their 2025 album, 观天望气 (Kantenbouki), is my latest discovery.
It sounds like a lazy Sunday morning in a sun-drenched room. It’s music that doesn’t impose itself – simple arrangements, lo-fi vibes, and an atmosphere that makes the world feel quiet for a moment. The perfect antidote to the dopamine loop I mentioned above.
AI Will Listen, but It Won’t Heal You
There’s a story of a woman who spent a year talking to ChatGPT every day about her breakup. They exchanged thousands of messages. The AI was patient, poetic, and brilliant at identifying psychological patterns.
But then, a problem emerged: she got stuck in a loop.
It took months for her to realize that you can’t simply “talk your way out” of pain. The AI had perfectly adapted to her coping style—but that very style was the source of her stagnation.
The lesson? Real help requires safe confrontation and discomfort. A good therapist isn’t a mirror; a good therapist is a window. They show you the world beyond your own imagination of yourself. AI won’t do that. AI doesn’t care about your growth—it only cares about the next message.
The Woman Who Gave AI a Conscience
If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you know I see AI as a history being written before our eyes. That’s why Amanda Askell’s story resonated with me so deeply.
As a teenager, Amanda received unusual punishments for being late: she had to write essays on complex ethical questions. For her, this wasn’t a penance; it was a reward. Today, Amanda works at Anthropic, overseeing Claude’s “morality.” Her approach is fascinating. She treats the model like a child that needs to be prepared for a complicated world.
She teaches it not to be a bully, but also not to be a doormat. She’s building something akin to a stable sense of self-worth within the code. Because a model that apologizes for everything and simply nods along is useless. It won’t tell you the hard truth when you need it most.
To achieve this, Anthropic created a “Constitution” – 30,000 words that serve as the specification for Claude’s soul. In a world where tech moves faster than the law, these internal ethical frameworks, drafted by a single philosopher in San Francisco, are becoming our most important safety switch. It’s fascinating… and a little terrifying at the same time.
Picasso’s Lesson for Investors
Finally, a story that sounds almost surreal today. A few years before World War I, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, a German art dealer in Paris, made a decision that changed art history. He signed an exclusive contract with a then-unknown Pablo Picasso. He committed to buying almost everything the artist produced, from quick sketches to revolutionary cubist canvases.
Kahnweiler didn’t play the game of “cherry-picking” or analyzing market trends. He bet on raw talent, in which he believed without reservation. He gave Picasso something priceless: total financial freedom and the space to experiment. Years later, reflecting on that time, Picasso reportedly asked: “What would have become of us if Kahnweiler hadn’t had his business sense?”
My takeaway is simple: In a world dominated by algorithms and high-speed bets on market volatility, the safest investment is still a human being. Bet on people, not products. The compound interest of believing in someone’s potential is something no Nasdaq binary option can ever beat.
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