AI Psychosis, Cognitive Armor, and Education

On this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Brad Costanzo, founder and CEO of Accelerated Intelligence, for a wide-ranging conversation that stretches from personal development and the idea that “my mess is my message” to the risks of AI psychosis, the importance of cognitive armor, and Brad’s sovereign mind framework. They talk about education through the lens of the Trivium, the natural pull of elites and hierarchies, and how Bitcoin and stablecoins tie into the future of money, inflation, and technological deflation. Brad also shares his perspective on the synergy between AI and Bitcoin, the dangers of too-big-to-fail banks, and why decentralized banking may be the missing piece. To learn more about Brad’s work, visit acceleratedintelligence.ai or reach out directly at brad@acceleratedintelligence.ai.

Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation

Timestamps

00:00 Brad Costanzo joins Stewart Alsop, opening with “my mess is my message” and Accelerated Intelligence as a way to frame AI as accelerated, not artificial.
05:00 They explore AI as a tool for personal development, therapy versus coaching, and AI’s potential for self-insight and pattern recognition.
10:00 The conversation shifts to AI psychosis, hype cycles, gullibility, and the need for cognitive armor, leading into Brad’s sovereign mind framework of define, collaborate, and refine.
15:00 They discuss education through the Trivium—grammar, logic, rhetoric—contrasted with the Prussian mass education model designed for factory workers.
20:00 The theme turns to elites, natural hierarchies, and the Robbers Cave experiment showing how quickly humans split into tribes.
25:00 Bitcoin enters as a silent, nonviolent revolution against centralized money, with Hayek’s quote on sound money and the Trojan horse of Wall Street adoption.
30:00 Stablecoins, treasuries, and the Treasury vs Fed dynamic highlight how monetary demand is being engineered through crypto markets.
35:00 Inflation, disinflation, and deflation surface, tied to real estate costs, millennials vs boomers, Austrian economics, and Jeff Booth’s “Price of Tomorrow.”
40:00 They connect Bitcoin and AI as deflationary forces, population decline, productivity gains, and the idea of a personal Bitcoin denominator.
45:00 The talk expands into Bitcoin mining, AI data centers, difficulty adjustments, and Richard Werner’s insights on quantitative easing, commercial banks, and speculative vs productive loans.
50:00 Wrapping themes center on decentralized banking, the dangers of too-big-to-fail, assets as protection, Bitcoin’s volatility, and why it remains the strongest play for long-term purchasing power.

Key Insights

1. One of the strongest insights Brad shares is the shift from artificial intelligence to accelerated intelligence. Instead of framing AI as something fake or external, he sees it as a leverage tool to amplify human intelligence—whether emotional, social, spiritual, or business-related. This reframing positions AI less as a threat to authenticity and more as a partner in unlocking dormant creativity.
2. Personal development surfaces through the mantra “my mess is my message.” Brad emphasizes that the struggles, mistakes, and rock-bottom moments in life can become the foundation for helping others. AI plays into this by offering low-cost access to self-insight, giving people the equivalent of a reflective mirror that can help them see patterns in their own thinking without immediately needing therapy.
3. The episode highlights the emerging problem of AI psychosis. People overly immersed in AI conversations, chatbots, or hype cycles can lose perspective. Brad and Stewart argue that cognitive armor—what Brad calls the “sovereign mind” framework of define, collaborate, and refine—is essential to avoid outsourcing one’s thinking entirely to machines.
4. Education is another theme, with Brad pointing to the classical Trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—as the foundation of real learning. Instead of mass education modeled on the Prussian system for producing factory workers, he argues for rhetoric, debate, and critical thinking as the ultimate tests of knowledge, even in an AI-driven world.
5. When the discussion turns to elites, Brad acknowledges that hierarchies are natural and unavoidable, citing experiments like Robbers Cave. The real danger lies not in elitism itself, but in concentrated control—particularly financial elites who maintain power through the monetary system.
6. Bitcoin is framed as a “silent, nonviolent revolution.” Brad describes it as a Trojan horse—appearing as a speculative asset while quietly undermining government monopoly on money. Stablecoins, treasuries, and the Treasury vs Fed conflict further reveal how crypto is becoming a new driver of monetary demand.
7. Finally, the synergy between AI and Bitcoin offers a hopeful counterbalance to deflation fears and demographic decline. AI boosts productivity while Bitcoin enforces financial discipline. Together, they could stabilize a future where fewer people are needed for the same output, costs of living decrease, and savings in hard money protect purchasing power—even against the inertia of too-big-to-fail banks.