Stories from unlearning
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
I once worked with an AI researcher who, at the age of 27, suddenly became an intuitive person. He went from being introverted, asexual, and frugal his whole life to hosting hot pot parties, asking people out, and buying clothes because they “match his vibe”
1:16 AM · Dec 18, 2025 · 1.78M Views
164 Replies · 146 Reposts · 9.73K Likes
emergent misalignment coauthor Daniel T
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
one of my founders started naturally texting friends "hey, how are you doing?" and "I miss you" after unlearning. he'd never done this before. we never discussed it
cold 🥑 @coldhealing
Most people send 10% as many text messages as they should. You should text your old friends when you think of them, you should text your new friends about the weather. You should text ex-girlfriends way more often. You should text mom more often but everyone agrees with that
6:25 AM · Feb 4, 2026 · 509K Views
8 Replies · 27 Reposts · 2.72K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
a guy I know used to get incapacitated for 48 hours if you said something like "you told me you didn't like corn. so why did you buy corn?" he'd completely shut down. now he just goes "yeah, you're right, i don't know why i did that" and laughs it's great
Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom
Major cheat code for life: Increase your recovery speed. You will get rejected. You will lose money. You will embarrass yourself. The goal isn't to avoid the fall. It's to shorten the time between the fall and the reset. Fast recovery compounds.
6:49 PM · Feb 17, 2026 · 202K Views
5 Replies · 33 Reposts · 2.54K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
how an engineer I met a few years ago went from avoiding ambitious projects to pulling coworkers into whiteboard sessions on problems he couldn't solve and initiating ridiculous projects others rallied around. he even decided to build his own zip line
Sharif Shameem @sharifshameem
A willingness to look stupid is the most underrated moat in doing creative work
6:32 PM · Apr 12, 2026 · 30.4K Views
1 Reply · 35 Reposts · 870 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
Prominent AI company you know almost lost one of their S-tier engineers a few months ago. He’d been planning to leave for months. He thought he was “done”, “tired”, “ready to retire”.
“Sure dude”, I thought. We work through it. He realizes for himself that what he really wants
2:55 PM · Apr 8, 2026 · 16.7K Views
2 Replies · 2 Reposts · 147 Likes
full tweet | more about team coordination
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
an AI exec I know had never negotiated. was about to walk away from his role instead. then one day he did. came away from the negotiation w/ working only 2h/day for the same comp. told me "you probably saved me a couple million haha"
ananta @meansinfinity
all those “how to negotiate” articles I read at the beginning of my career failed to convey to me that negotiating just becomes natural if you actually believe in your worth
10:54 PM · Feb 13, 2026 · 14.3K Views
2 Replies · 3 Reposts · 211 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
extreme example: guy came for approach anxiety, went home, immediately fell asleep (at 5pm!), woke up with muscle soreness. within two weeks he'd asked out multiple crushes. several months later he asked out his gf
3:00 PM · Oct 25, 2025 · 202K Views
13 Replies · 27 Reposts · 1.71K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
This is how a founder I worked with went from women telling him he was "kind of cringe" on first dates to dating a model
Caroline @carolinecwilder
Men, here’s the secret: If your presence doesn’t calm and regulate her nervous system, literally nothing else you do matters. Nothing.
3:29 AM · Jan 3, 2026 · 200K Views
5 Replies · 35 Reposts · 1.95K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
a guy I know went from eating alone his whole life to throwing dinner parties every friday. something just flipped
Ava @noampomsky
wait I love this
5:17 PM · Feb 18, 2026 · 1.01M Views
80 Replies · 1.55K Reposts · 37.3K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
a researcher I know used to be like this. thought he was just “a chill and easygoing person” lol. don’t worry, he has preferences now
Ava @noampomsky
The lowest agency person you know: "Well, maybe everything will just work itself out without me having to confront anything that makes me uncomfortable."
1:53 AM · Mar 23, 2026 · 79.3K Views
1 Reply · 14 Reposts · 928 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
worked with a founder who thought his dating anxiety was due to fear of rejection. was actually fear of acceptance. he has a girlfriend now
7:48 PM · Nov 8, 2025 · 49.4K Views
19 Replies · 13 Reposts · 530 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
One of my founders unlocked this mindset,
met his girl,
they’ve been together since September.
5:23 PM · Feb 14, 2026 · 60.3K Views
8 Replies · 122 Reposts · 2.73K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
one of these people told me “every day I’d just wake up and like, reinvent my life from first principles.” he couldn't do annual reflections at work because he had no sense of what went well. his mom once asked his favorite childhood memory and he couldn't think of one. anyways
syl ♡ @sylviapuffs
SUPRESSING YOUR EMOTIONS CAUSES MEMORY LOSS WTF???
5:54 AM · Mar 10, 2026 · 288K Views
23 Replies · 137 Reposts · 6.2K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
a guy I worked with quit vaping a few weeks ago. he'd tried a few times before to no avail. said the trick this time was he didn't try
Visakan Veerasamy @visakanv
"i'm trying to quit smoking" is like "i'm trying not to think of an elephant"
3:57 PM · Feb 11, 2026 · 6.98K Views
4 Replies · 84 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
“harmless” addictions cause so much drag. guy I know put “quitting a 20-year addiction” as #1 on his year-end review. nothing else came close. even he was surprised
4:49 PM · Feb 24, 2026 · 75.1K Views
1 Reply · 1 Repost · 1.03K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
doomscrolling, vaping, porn, overworking, dating — everyone I’ve watched successfully drop these addictions did not try
Chris Lakin @chrislakin
surprising # of high-performing people I know lose hours a day on their phone. so they try to restrict their phone usage. so inevitably they pick up another cope instead. whack-a-mole
4:50 AM · Mar 22, 2026 · 1.55M Views
50 Replies · 125 Reposts · 7.38K Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
just remembered another founder who went from “I schedule hanging out with friends on my todo list” to, only a month later, “I met friends every day this week. I didn't plan any of it. I don't know how that happened.” — even I was confused
Chris Lakin @chrislakin
a guy I know has gone from being invited to things once every few months to 3x a week. he hasn't (consciously) changed anything about how he socializes
5:41 PM · Apr 18, 2026 · 12.2K Views
2 Replies · 1 Repost · 155 Likes
Chris Lakin@chrislakin
one of these people used to spend 4+ hours a day in bed — video games, doomscrolling, anything but seeing his employees. it just stopped
Chris Lakin @chrislakin
doomscrolling, vaping, porn, overworking, dating — everyone I’ve watched successfully drop these addictions did not try
5:16 PM · Mar 22, 2026 · 27.4K Views
5 Replies · 2 Reposts · 173 Likes
