The Multiplicity Layer - When AI Becomes Your Creative Amplifier, Not Your Replacement
When Your Gift Evolves Faster Than People Can See
A single onion can produce multiple new plants from one core. Same DNA, infinite expressions. Your authentic core isn't a limitation—it's a multiplication system.
I started with Microsoft Paint. Now I'm conducting AI symphonies. Same gift, exponentially more powerful applications.
The Original Design Eye
In the early 2000s, I started with Photoshop 7. I got my graphic design degree (which I kind of regret due to the burden of student loans, though they're now paid off), and learned Illustrator, InDesign, and even Flash back when websites were like movie productions with zero SEO. The Adobe suite was my identity—or so I thought.
Clients started asking if I could edit in Canva. I was reluctant. Loyal to Adobe. Protective of my "professional" tools.
The old school way: A client sends me a PDF with text edits. Grammar fixes. One by one. Hours of tedious edits. Sometimes I'd miss some, but overall, it was bitch work.
Canva lets us collaborate in real-time. They could edit text. I could adjust visuals. We could be on Zoom together, making it happen. The tool wasn't replacing my skill—it was finally fast enough to keep up with reality.
The Evolution Nobody Sees
Here's what people don't understand about AI tools: They think you type a prompt and magic happens.
Here's my actual process for one newsletter art video, my favorite part:
I write a paragraph-long prompt. Put it in Sora for the main cover. Export to Canva. Remove background. Add the Rebel Onion character and week number. Export to my newsletter.
Then I take the same prompt to Leonardo.ai. After many iterations, I find a theme I like. Prompt a 5-second video. Honestly? It does whatever it wants. I never get exactly what I ask for.
But the "mistakes" are interesting. So I look at the 5-6 videos (I use all of them) Leonardo generated, see what worked, and write a script around what it actually created. I collaborate with Gemini on the script. Then, scene by scene—"here he says this, now he's walking and says this"—I build the narrative.
Export to ElevenLabs. Find a voice. Play with speed and character settings. Then open Wondershare (video editing app), align all the videos with the voiceover, and add music. Sometimes I realize I'm missing a visual and generate one more. Or the ending needs a better closing, so I go back to ElevenLabs and regenerate.
Finally, I review the whole thing. Export. Post to newsletter and socials.
Total time: Hours. Comments I get: "That's AI slop." (Well, 2 comments only, but it stung—not worth explaining the process.)
The Irreplaceable Human Layer
You know what AI can't do? See that a mushroom tea label, a client hired me to look over, has black boxes too close to text. Notice that spacing feels off. Know that printers need bleeds and crop marks. Understand that "RG VO Roof and General Contractor, Inc." won't fit in the pretty Canva slot designed for "Nike."
The design eye—the thing that makes you plate food beautifully, arrange your house aesthetically, know when something feels wrong even if you can't articulate why—that's still entirely human.
AI gives you templates, and really good ones. Reality gives you ugly client names and complex requirements. The gap between those two? That's where I live.
The Conductor vs. The Replaced
People ask if I'm afraid AI will replace designers. Let's analyze that.
AI is replacing the tedious parts—the grammar I was terrible at, the hours of text edits, the stock photo hunting, the client copy that took forever.
What AI amplified? My ability to execute vision at the speed of my imagination.
I used to design financial Web3 pitch decks without fully understanding all the content. Now I upload the PDF to Notebook LM (it's awesome), and it creates a 5-20 minute podcast explaining everything. I can listen while driving and actually comprehend what I'm designing.
I'm not being replaced. I'm being freed to do the part only I can do—see what's missing, feel what's off, know what needs to exist.
The Multiplication Principle
Your core gift doesn't limit you—it multiplies through every new tool that emerges.
My design eye that started in Microsoft Paint now expresses through Sora, Leonardo, Midjourney, Canva, Claude, Gemini, ElevenLabs, Wondershare, and I still love my Adobe apps too. Same aesthetic judgment, exponentially more applications.
The people calling it "AI slop" can't see the orchestration. They see output, not the 10-step creative process requiring mastery of many tools and aesthetic decisions at every single point.
That's okay. Let them think it's easy.
This Week's Peel
Your authentic core isn't one thing—it's the seed that produces multiple expressions as new soil (technology, opportunity, environment) becomes available.
The question isn't "Will AI replace what I do?"
The question is "How many new ways can my core gift express now that the tools finally match my vision?"
"The most advanced machine is still the human body and the most advanced technology is still the human mind." — Naval Ravikant
This week, notice: What's your irreplaceable gift that keeps showing up regardless of tools, industries, or circumstances? And how many more ways could it multiply if you stopped protecting your old methods and started conducting new ones?
Being Coached Layers: The Master Conductor
Dr. Goodman says the ultimate test of your irreplaceable gift is this: Can you conduct? He emphasizes that anyone can operate a single instrument, but the master is the one who understands how to orchestrate an entire symphony. AI is merely a new, powerful section in your orchestra.
He advises that your true worth isn't in your loyalty to old tools (like the Adobe suite) but in your aesthetic judgment—the ability to see what's missing and feel what's wrong. To fully embrace your Multiplicity Layer, stop being the operator and become the conductor. Trust your core creative vision and use every new tool that emerges, whether it's Flash, Canva, or Sora, to amplify the masterpiece only you can see.
Bookshelf Peeled: The Generalist's Edge
The story of moving from a single tool like Photoshop to orchestrating an entire suite of AI applications reminded me of Range by David Epstein. The book’s core argument is that in complex, rapidly changing fields, generalists with breadth and varied experience triumph over narrow specialists.
This powerfully correlates with our Multiplicity Layer theme. Your core aesthetic gift—the "design eye" that detects what's missing—is not a specialized skill limited to one tool; it is your range. AI and new technology are simply more tools for your generalist mind to conduct. When you stop protecting old methods of single-tool mastery, you recognize that your true irreplaceable edge is your ability to synthesize, apply human judgment, and orchestrate across every new application that emerges.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
by David Epstein
Design Rebel: The Creative Quickening
This segment features the Rebel Onion in a high-voltage, Highlander-inspired deep dive on AI. The dynamic imagery was fueled by Leonardo.ai, the compelling voice by ElevenLabs, and the script was a collaborative effort between me and Gemini. Final editing was completed in Wondershare Filmora. There can be only one!
Weekly Inspired Insights I liked or found useful this week:
Why I hated hand-drawing with that round ball under my mouse... I'm Picasso.
P.S. If this resonates with you, share it with someone. I'm dedicated to helping fellow explorers—or anyone who found this page—uncover their authentic self with humor and insight. We're all in this together, finding the courage to truly live from our core essence (or as close as we can get!).
The Community Layer: Onions in the Stew (Tentative)
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