Shaan Puri
@ShaanVP
Daily writing is the new weightlifting. The brain is a muscle — it will atrophy if you don't use it.
THE NO-SCREENS, NO-AI, NO-INTERNET WAY TOThink and write
like a human again.
AI is making us dumber. It's time to fight back. We'll send you excerpts from humanity's best literature in the mail (yes, your physical mailbox) every month. You'll read, copy it, and learn to think and write like a human again.
Paul Graham
@paulg
The people who still read won't just be better informed. They'll be the only ones who can think well.
Rose Horowitch
@rosehorowitch
The skill of deep thinking will likely become rarer in a world where much of the population uses AI to avoid writing.
Austin Kennedy
@astnkennedy
I'm 22 and Claude Code is deteriorating my brain. None of us feel as sharp as we used to.
Vuhi
@vuhi0811
Writing only becomes obsolete when you outsource your creativity or leave it to AI.
Anthony Vicino
@AnthonyVicino
AI has made me more productive, but a less effective human.
Clifton Sellers
@CliftonSellers
If you outsource ALL of your thinking to AI, don't be surprised when you become irrelevant.
Dylan O'Sullivan
@DylanoA4
AI will allow millions of unthinking people to think they're thinking.
Ben Dickson
@bendee983
If you outsource your thinking to AI, your writing will be bland and tasteless.
Alex
@AlexOnchain
don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking
Caleb
@heiscaleb2
The most valuable skill in the AI era will be the ability to think clearly for yourself.
Shaan Puri
@ShaanVP
Daily writing is the new weightlifting. The brain is a muscle — it will atrophy if you don't use it.
Paul Graham
@paulg
The people who still read won't just be better informed. They'll be the only ones who can think well.
Rose Horowitch
@rosehorowitch
The skill of deep thinking will likely become rarer in a world where much of the population uses AI to avoid writing.
Austin Kennedy
@astnkennedy
I'm 22 and Claude Code is deteriorating my brain. None of us feel as sharp as we used to.
Vuhi
@vuhi0811
Writing only becomes obsolete when you outsource your creativity or leave it to AI.
Anthony Vicino
@AnthonyVicino
AI has made me more productive, but a less effective human.
Clifton Sellers
@CliftonSellers
If you outsource ALL of your thinking to AI, don't be surprised when you become irrelevant.
Dylan O'Sullivan
@DylanoA4
AI will allow millions of unthinking people to think they're thinking.
Ben Dickson
@bendee983
If you outsource your thinking to AI, your writing will be bland and tasteless.
Alex
@AlexOnchain
don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking
Caleb
@heiscaleb2
The most valuable skill in the AI era will be the ability to think clearly for yourself.
Career Mindset X
@careerlevelup
Outsource the writing and you slowly outsource the thinking that used to happen while you wrote.
Boze Herrington
@SketchesbyBoze
Three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay. Powerful companies have convinced us we can't.
Kevin Naughton Jr.
@KevinNaughtonJr
AI should be used to supplement your learning — not to outsource your thinking.
Chris Hayduk
@ChrisHayduk
Writing is thinking. If you outsource your writing to AI, you're outsourcing your thinking.
Vala Afshar
@ValaAfshar
When you stop writing, you start to outsource your thinking.
Daniel Sempere Pico
@dansemperepico
Clear writing is clear thinking. Outsource your writing to AI and you outsource your thinking.
The Economist
@TheEconomist
Prolonged AI use may make it harder to think critically and creatively, recent research suggests.
Amy DeBellis
@amykdebellis
Outsource all your writing and thought to an LLM — and become a brainless shell of a person.
Alex Hartsuff
@AlexHartsuff
The more you outsource your thinking to AI, the more your brain withers away.
Eric Hsu
@lawyer4SMBs
I'm wondering what kind of world we'll live in when most people can't write, think, analyze, or research without AI.
Career Mindset X
@careerlevelup
Outsource the writing and you slowly outsource the thinking that used to happen while you wrote.
Boze Herrington
@SketchesbyBoze
Three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay. Powerful companies have convinced us we can't.
Kevin Naughton Jr.
@KevinNaughtonJr
AI should be used to supplement your learning — not to outsource your thinking.
Chris Hayduk
@ChrisHayduk
Writing is thinking. If you outsource your writing to AI, you're outsourcing your thinking.
Vala Afshar
@ValaAfshar
When you stop writing, you start to outsource your thinking.
Daniel Sempere Pico
@dansemperepico
Clear writing is clear thinking. Outsource your writing to AI and you outsource your thinking.
The Economist
@TheEconomist
Prolonged AI use may make it harder to think critically and creatively, recent research suggests.
Amy DeBellis
@amykdebellis
Outsource all your writing and thought to an LLM — and become a brainless shell of a person.
Alex Hartsuff
@AlexHartsuff
The more you outsource your thinking to AI, the more your brain withers away.
Eric Hsu
@lawyer4SMBs
I'm wondering what kind of world we'll live in when most people can't write, think, analyze, or research without AI.
Tell me if this sounds like you...
Hey there,
You're here because you spend 1-8 hours in front of a screen. Much of that time is spent prompting, directing, or managing some form of AI. It used to be fun. But now?
You're sick of it.
It's not just the slop (and there is sooooo much slop). But the sycophantic replies. The absurd hallucinations. The responses that drag on for paragraphs when you needed a sentence.
Yet you keep going back. Claude, Chat, Gemini, they're just so willing to do your work. You don't even have to think anymore. Anything hard, anything inconvenient, they'll take care of it.
But you know that's a problem. You can feel your mind turning to mush as you offload yet another task that you, a human with a brain, used to do. Your creative will is deteriorating. You feel trapped in the warm blanket of convenience. These tools invite you, beg you, to stop thinking for yourself. They'll do the work. And now that you've outsourced your ability to think a few times, it's hard not to do it again.
If this is you, it's time to do something about it. This is exactly why we've created Human by Hand.
Stop outsourcing your thinking. Stop outsourcing your writing. Your mind is a gift, and it needs to be developed not infantilized. Our product is 100% analog. Zero screens. Zero AI. Zero internet. Zero technology. It's an invitation to slow down, use your mind, and re-learn what it feels like to read and write great prose.
We are facing a real but invisible crisis. Humans are getting dumber. We are losing the power to think, to read, and to write.
It's time to fight back.
— Ryan (Founder, Human by Hand)
WHAT DO YOU GET EACH MONTH?
01
Four pieces of great writing
We spend hours curating and selecting excerpts from the world's best writers. We deliver these to you in your physical mailbox. Your job is to read them and copy them by hand.
02
Expert commentary
We share our take on what makes the writing great. We point to structural choices, vocabulary, rhetorical moves, and more. It'll feel like a masterclass in English literature.
03
Writing challenges
Once you read and copy each piece, you'll be ready to put pen to paper yourself. Each month, we'll provide four weeks worth of reflection questions, writing prompts, and challenges to put into practice what you've learned.
Premium Subscribers
Premium annual subscribers will also get a high quality, 200-page, lined notebook and our very favorite copywork pen (Sharpie S-Gel) sent to you as part of your subscription, giving you an ideal setup for your copywork adventure!
What is copywork?
We learn how to play music by copying the notes and rhythms that someone else wrote. Turns out, we can learn how to write in the exact same way.
Copywork is an age-old practice to learn how to write. It's simple. You sit down with a great piece of writing and you copy it by hand. As you do, you learn for yourself what great writing looks like. You begin to feel how it ebbs and flows. You immerse yourself in metaphor and illusion. You see patterns and discover new words.
Great writers from Benjamin Franklin to Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde) to Jack London (Call of the Wild) all leaned on copywork to improve their writing.
Now it's your turn. As AI begins to dominate what we read, it's more important than ever to write like a human. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Clear thinking is a sign of being human.
Pricing
Monthly
$15/mo
- •4 literary packets, delivered once/month
- •Billed monthly
- •Pause or cancel any time
RecommendedAnnual Premium
$180/yr
- •4 literary packets delivered once/month
- •12 total deliveries
- •200 page notebook with premium lined paper
- •1 Sharpie S-Gel metal pen (0.7mm)
- •Billed in full upfront
Annual Standard
$139/yr
- •4 literary packets delivered once/month
- •12 total deliveries
- •Save 25% compared to monthly plan
- •Billed in full upfront
“
“
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”
We're not the only ones saying it.
A growing chorus of writers, thinkers, and builders are warning us about what we're losing when we let AI do our thinking for us.
Shaan Puri
@ShaanVP
Daily writing is the new weightlifting. Back in the day, 90%+ of the population worked manual labor on farms. We didn't have "gyms" because everyone was breaking their back working all day. Once we got machines, we needed a new way to keep our body in shape — lifting heavy objects (3 sets of 10), voluntarily, at the gym. The same thing is happening for writing. Everyone is outsourcing their thinking to AI. The brain is a muscle, and it will atrophy if you don't use it.
July 8, 2026
Paul Graham
@paulg
The people who still read won't just be better informed. They'll be (with a couple exceptions) the only ones who can think well. You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well.
July 11, 2026
Rose Horowitch
@rosehorowitch
The skill of deep thinking will likely become rarer and rarer in a world where much of the population uses AI to avoid writing. It will also become more and more important... People will therefore need their powers of discernment and comprehension more than ever. They will need to know what they think and how to make their own judgments. These are the exact skills that the use of AI threatens to erode.
July 8, 2026
Austin Kennedy
@astnkennedy
I'm 22 years old and Claude Code is deteriorating my brain. Every single day for the last 6 months I've had 6 to 8 Claude Code terminals open, waiting for a response just so I can hit 'enter' 75% of the time. And it's doing something to me. In convos with a couple of friends, it's been a point that's been brought up pretty frequently. None of us feel as sharp as we used to.
April 30, 2026
Vuhi
@vuhi0811
writing is more than just communication. writing is a way to train your thinking. writing is a way to document your personal growth. writing is a way to connect with like-minded people. writing only becomes obsolete when you outsource your creativity or leave it to AI.
April 18, 2026
Anthony Vicino
@AnthonyVicino
Preach. AI has made me more orders of magnitude more productive... But it has also negatively impacted my critical thinking, the quality of my insights, and my overall creative output. AI has made me a more effective machine, but a less effective human.
July 8, 2026
Clifton Sellers
@CliftonSellers
Harsh truth: If you outsource ALL of your thinking to AI, don't be surprised when you become irrelevant
July 6, 2026
Dylan O'Sullivan
@DylanoA4
AI will allow millions of unthinking people to think they're thinking
June 26, 2026
Ben Dickson
@bendee983
It depends on what you mean by "writing." The tools for writing constantly change. AI is just a new chapter in the ever changing landscape of writing tools. However, hard thinking, which is the core component of good writing, will always remain the same. If you outsource your thinking to AI, your writing will be bland and tasteless, a reflection of the average training data of the LLM. If you think hard, reflect on your thoughts, and develop your own voice, AI will be a powerful tool for expressing your ideas.
June 25, 2026
Alex
@AlexOnchain
don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking don't outsource your thinking
June 14, 2026
Caleb
@heiscaleb2
the most valuable skill in the AI era will be the ability to think clearly for yourself kids growing up with AI won't struggle to access information they'll struggle to think without depending on AI for everything that's why skills like: — writing — creativity — communication — critical thinking will matter even more especially writing! because writing forces you to slow down long enough to understand what you actually think and in a world where AI can generate endless answers… clear thinking becomes the real advantage
June 6, 2026
Career Mindset X
@careerlevelup
writing does something beyond producing words, it's how you figure out what you actually think outsource the writing and you slowly outsource the thinking that used to happen while you wrote the real worry runs deeper than ai writing your eulogy, it's that you forget you were ever able to
May 23, 2026
Boze Herrington
@SketchesbyBoze
Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay, writing a eulogy, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can't do things we've been doing for 5,000 years.
May 23, 2026
Kevin Naughton Jr.
@KevinNaughtonJr
anytime you face a problem that requires deep critical thinking your knee-jerk reaction should not be to reach for AI it should be to spend time thinking long and hard about the problem at hand but i fear this is becoming less and less common the more difficult the problem the longer you should spend silently pondering AI should be used to supplement your learning not to outsource your thinking
May 21, 2026
Chris Hayduk
@ChrisHayduk
Agree with this as a general policy, not just because the models are weak at writing, but also because writing is thinking. If you outsource your writing to AI, you're outsourcing your thinking (regardless of if you came up with the main idea). The devil is in the details!
May 11, 2026
Vala Afshar
@ValaAfshar
When you stop writing, you start to outsource your thinking.
May 4, 2026
Daniel Sempere Pico
@dansemperepico
Clear writing is clear thinking. If you outsource writing your content to AI, you're effectively outsourcing your thinking to it as well. You don't want to give up the mental clarity you gain from articulating your own thoughts and ideas. Using AI to polish and edit your writing is fine, because it can show you different ways to say something that you may not have thought of on your own, but never let it replace the struggle of doing it yourself. That struggle is how you become a better writer and thinker.
March 30, 2026
The Economist
@TheEconomist
Prolonged AI use may make it harder to think critically and creatively, recent research suggests. But there are ways to keep the brain fit.
February 8, 2026
Amy DeBellis
@amykdebellis
Absolutely horrible idea: Outsource all your writing, creativity, and general thought to an LLM. This will free up so much time for you to doomscroll, marinate your brain in horrible news, watch AI-generated videos, and just generally become a brainless shell of a person 👍🏻
February 8, 2026
Alex Hartsuff
@AlexHartsuff
The less you use a muscle, the more it atrophies. The more you outsource your thinking to AI, the more your brain withers away. Sometimes it's best to turn off the machines and get work done the old fashion way.
September 15, 2025
Eric Hsu
@lawyer4SMBs
I'm not worried about AI taking over the world. I'm wondering what kind of a world we'll live in when most people can't: • Write • Think • Analyze • Research Or even come up with a single original thought without the help of Claude.
July 7, 2026
FAQs
How often will I receive letters in the mail?
You'll be mailed an envelope that contains four pieces of literature (one for each week in the month) at the beginning of each month. The packet will also contain expert commentary on each piece as well as writing prompts and challenges.
When will I receive my mail?
We send mail during the first week of every month. The exact day you receive it will vary based on weekends, holidays, and how long it takes to ship.
Where do you send mail?
We currently only serve customers who live in the United States.
Who is this service for?
It's for anyone who wants to think, read, and write better in the age of AI. Founder, marketer, student, salesperson, mom, dad, therapist, it doesn't matter what the job title is. What matters is you're someone who cares about using your brain and maximizing your human potential.
Do you offer refunds?
Monthly plans are not refundable, but you can cancel anytime and keep any mailings already sent. Annual plans are eligible for a prorated refund if you're unhappy with your first mailing — contact us within 14 days of delivery. After the second shipment is sent, annual plans are no longer refundable, though you can cancel at the end of your current annual term.
Who created this service?
A human named Ryan who loves reading and writing and has spent way too much time chatting with Claude. Check out our "About" page for more.