Welcome back everyone,

I’m going to share something I’ve been working on for the past few weeks…

The RP WEEKLY Manifesto

aka: why the hell I’m even writing this dingus newsletter every week.

I started out wanting to write about “the art of curated experiences in sports, hospitality & entertainment.”

Why do some sports moments stick with you, but not others?

Why do you remember a handful of meals from your life, but forget most?

Why do some concerts evoke more nostalgia than others?

As a former DJ, Travel Advisor & Tom Brady employee, I’ve got some experience in these realms. My feeling was is that it all has to do with the intentionality, character, craft and taste of those responsible for building/hosting/performing. It is an art form to create an experience - especially one that makes a lasting impression.

Sounds great - but I wanted to go deeper. So I talked to friends, read from those I admire, and wrote half-baked notes/ideas until I landed here…

What I Realized

We’re living through the greatest commoditization wave in human history.

Algo’s optimize. Ai generates. Machines learn & predict. Apps Streamline.

But…

The moments that make us feel human can’t be automated. Can’t be machine generated.

The surprise. The delight. The genuine connection. The craft that makes you stop and think "how the hell did they do that?"

These experiences are becoming rare. And that scarcity is creating a new kind of luxury: authenticity

The Problem is Everywhere

Brands deploy the same flat, lifeless marketing (see: Cracker Barrel).

Spotify recommends the same songs to everyone.

Legacy Sports Media devolves into artificial, stupid soundbites.

Travel sites show identical “personalized recommendations”.

Instagram feeds everyone the same viral slop.

Restaurants get optimized for efficiency over character.

Even dating is reduced to swiping on your phone.

The Result? Everything feels the same. Everything feels…algorithmic.

Well - almost everything.

Some are Fighting Back

And that's what I'm really writing about every week. The people, places, and experiences that resist the optimization machine.

I call them Human-Proof Experiences.

What Makes Something Human-Proof?

Three things that algorithms can't replicate:

1. Cultural Coherence
When every element feels authentically connected to the people creating it.

Example: Venus Williams teaching tennis at Four Seasons Palm Beach. She actually trains there. It's not a gimmick.

2. Character Over Optimization
Choosing personality over efficiency.

Example: Wimbledon hand-picking strawberries every morning. Completely inefficient. Totally memorable.

3. Authentic Craft
Skills and knowledge that come from genuine experience.

Example: Rich Eisen returning to host SportsCenter after nearly two decades away. The ratings don't lie…you can't fake that level of authentic expertise.

Why It Matters

This isn’t an ai or tech doom letter. I work in tech startups. I happen to love my iphone. And I annoy the hell out of my fiancé when I talk to Grok in my Tesla.

But (ofc there’s a “but”) we need to be intentional about preserving what makes us human. It is (and will continue to be) all too easy to farm everything out to the machines. We need to be Jedi. Use these powers for good, not evil.

We need to celebrate the people creating products, art, media & experiences that become more valuable as everything else becomes more automated.

Finally…

I hope this resonates. And I hope you see the correlation to everything we’ve been covering over these past few months.

See you next time. Enjoy the weekend.

RP WEEKLY!!!