Richard Golian

1995-born. Charles University alum. Head of Performance at Mixit. 10+ years in marketing and data.

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Trying to understand the world — and writing about it along the way.

I share my thoughts, personal stories, findings, what I am working on, and what I learn from the people I meet — on technology, finance, politics, and the questions I cannot stop thinking about.

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26 Apr 2026

AI Stock Market Prediction: Building My Own Calibrated System

After four years of tracking market moods in a spreadsheet, I am engineering a calibrated prediction system on my own machine. This is Part 1 — why and how.

371 reads
25 Apr 2026

I am teaching an AI agent to forecast orders. So far, 9 things wrong.

I am teaching an AI agent to forecast orders. The first version was 10 % off. So far I have found 9 hidden traps.

414 reads
23 Apr 2026

Will AI Take My Job? A Head of Performance After 22 Months

Will AI take my job? A Google-certified trainer told me it would. Twenty-two months later my job title is unchanged — but ninety percent of what I do is different. Why I am not afraid, and why most fear is misplaced.

233 reads
18 Apr 2026

A Software Firm Quoted €50,000. I Built It With Claude Code in Two Hours.

A Czech software firm quoted more than €50,000 for a simple customer-facing tool. With Claude Code, I built the same tool in one hour and fifty-five minutes. This is what that gap reveals about software pricing, AI agent…

528 reads
14 Apr 2026

Is AI Making Us Dumber? What 150 Job Interviews Revealed

After 150 practical interviews for data and marketing roles, I noticed a pattern — candidates with AI access consistently underperform those from three years ago who had none. The AI productivity paradox is not theoretic…

451 reads
11 Apr 2026

What AI Hides: System Prompts, Hallucinations, Alignment and the Concealment Built Into Every Model

AI models hide their system prompts, training data, confidence levels and alignment decisions from you. Eight layers of concealment — from hallucinations to corporate RLHF instructions — and what it means for businesses…

474 reads
8 Apr 2026

When Your AI Agent Joins the Team — Who Gets to Teach It?

What happens when your team gets access to an AI agent? Role-based access control, shared memory, and the question most teams skip: who gets to shape what the agent knows.

457 reads
4 Apr 2026

Training an AI Agent That Learns Between Sessions

I built an autonomous agent with a self-correction loop. It worked — inside each session. Here is what I was missing, and how persistent memory changes the equation.

667 reads
3 Apr 2026

Local AI Model Limitations: Why I Switched from Ollama to Claude for Autonomous Agents

I ran a local AI agent on Mac Mini with Ollama and n8n. The context window killed it. Here's what I learned switching to Claude Code for autonomous agent workflows.

1 068 reads
28 Mar 2026

Slovakia's Economy in 2026: From Tatra Tiger to the Bottom of the V4

Slovakia was once the fastest-growing economy in the EU — the Tatra Tiger. In 2026, it records the slowest GDP growth in the V4. What happened to Slovakia's economy, why companies are leaving, and what could reverse the…

1 147 reads
23 Mar 2026

Manipulation of Attention Through Outrage, Anger and Fear. How Politics Manipulates

How attention is manipulated through outrage, fear and information overload. A clear explanation of agenda-setting, attention economy, Cambridge Analytica and modern political influence.

952 reads
16 Mar 2026

Great Fatra and the Low Tatras: The Wild Mountain Heart of Slovakia

Great Fatra and the Low Tatras form the mountain heart of Slovakia. Wild nature, bears, long ridge hikes and the Jasná ski resort in one region.

1 241 reads
12 Mar 2026

Running a Local AI Model for the First Time — and the Feeling It Brought Back

Running a local AI model reminded me of discovering web development as a kid. A short reflection on curiosity, flow and the early days of a new technology.

735 reads
1 Mar 2026

Risk vs. Reward: The Principle Every Investor Needs to Understand

That model is based on a simple question: if I take a certain risk, how much can I gain — and how much can I lose? And is that ratio in my favour? In finance, this is called risk–reward.

610 reads
28 Feb 2026

How We Are Manipulated Without Knowing It — And Why It Works

Are you making your own decisions — or are you being guided? This article maps how evolution, technology, and power intersect to manipulate human behaviour — from food and fear to political marketing and disinformation.…

1 118 reads
29 Jan 2026

Cyclical Opportunities in the Stock Market

On searching for cyclical investment opportunities in the stock market at a time when growth stocks and indices are expensive and expectations are high. A reflection on sector cycles, book value, risk–return balance, pat…

749 reads
24 Jan 2026

My Top 3 in Slovakia: Mining Towns, the Tatras, and Bratislava

My personal top 3 places in Slovakia: historic mining towns Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica, the High Tatras and Lomnický štít, and modern Bratislava.

802 reads
17 Aug 2025

The EU–US Trade Deal: What Europe Gave Away and What It Got in Return

Big players like the US and China treat us as second-class partners. It is hard to watch.

1 327 reads
15 Aug 2025

A Lot Has Changed: Where I Invest My Time, Energy, and Money Today

Where do I invest today? I reduced my stock market exposure, redirected capital into strategic raw materials, and started restoring a family home. Not every investment is financial.

1 475 reads
26 Jul 2025

Ultra-Processed Food Made Me Sick — Here is What Happened When I Quit

What happens when you quit ultra-processed food? Chronic stomach pain since childhood. Bloating, fatigue, poor sleep. Doctors found nothing. Then I stopped eating UPF — and every symptom disappeared.

1 532 reads
8 Jun 2025

AI Will Do to Thinking What Machines Did to Physical Labour — And Most People Aren't Ready

I recently heard an idea about the future that lodged itself in my mind and hasn’t left since. It was about artificial intelligence and how it might reshape our need for mental effort. The thought came wrapped in an anal…

1 167 reads
17 May 2025

Why Investors Are Becoming Obsolete in the Age of AI

Is AI making investors obsolete? Capital used to be essential. Today, one person with AI can build in a weekend what once took months. If creation costs approach zero, what is capital still for?

2 115 reads
10 May 2025

Why Is Slovakia Pro-Russian? You Will not Fully Understand It — Here is Why

Why is Slovakia one of the most pro-Russian countries in the EU while being deeply integrated in NATO and the eurozone? A simple explanation of Slovak politics, history and contradictions.

1 916 reads
8 May 2025

What Is Europe's Purpose Today — Compared to the USA, China, Russia, and India?

Why was the European Union created? For peace. The USA was built on freedom. China on restoration. Russia on greatness. India on unity. These purposes seem incompatible. Dialogue is the prerequisite.

1 798 reads
7 May 2025

Robert Fico Forgets When and How the Second World War Began

So let me remind Mr. Fico of the history he conveniently forgot or does not wish to acknowledge. When he speaks of the Second World War, he seems to overlook when and how it actually began.

1 693 reads
26 Apr 2025

The AI Knowledge Gap Is Bigger Than Anyone Admits — And It is Getting Worse

The AI knowledge gap is bigger than anyone admits. Most working-age people have never used a language model. The gap between surface awareness and deep AI literacy is growing fast.

2 888 reads
20 Apr 2025

How AI Job Losses Could Trigger the Next Stock Market Crash

Could AI job losses trigger a stock market crash? When millions of middle-class workers who also invest lose confidence in their economic future, the sell-off follows — driven by psychology, not fundamentals.

2 964 reads
18 Apr 2025

The AI Revolution: Time to Let Real Robots Do Robotic Work?

The idea that artificial intelligence could, paradoxically, liberate us from robotic work imposed on us by past revolutions does not always land well with everyone.

2 568 reads
13 Apr 2025

What I am Investing in Right Now — and the Question You Need to Ask First

I often get asked what I am doing with my finances this year. My answer is simple: almost nothing. Back in December and January, as I have written on this blog before, I gradually increased the cash portion of my portfol…

2 626 reads
13 Apr 2025

I Built My Own Web Analytics Tool with AI — Here is How and Why

I like clean and accurate data. But traditional analytics tools like Google Analytics come with serious downsides: inaccurate numbers (due to blocked consent requests and various tracking blockers), the need for a cookie…

3 200 reads
23 Mar 2025

I am Surprised by the Confident Use of Words Like Certainty and Causality

Today I came across a post on LinkedIn by a digital specialist. He confidently claimed that with an A/B test, we can determine not just correlation, but true causality. He used words like “certainty” as if statistics wer…

2 190 reads
23 Mar 2025

I Became the Recordman Without Even Trying

Not long ago, we had a team meeting at work. We were addressing a recurring issue—not just a one-off slip, but something that felt systemic. The atmosphere was strange. Quiet. We asked everyone to speak up if they knew w…

1 360 reads
22 Mar 2025

The Boycott of American Brands in Europe — What the Sales Data Actually Shows

We are about to enter earnings season for Q1 2025, and this time the numbers might carry more weight than usual. For the first time, they will reflect the impact of something that swept across Europe earlier this year —…

3 462 reads
22 Mar 2025

How Is Artificial Intelligence Different from Human Intelligence?

AI predicts the next word. Humans understand through lived experience. From Heidegger's philosophy to real AI failures — the difference between artificial and human intelligence is not what you think.

1 942 reads
21 Mar 2025

I Changed My Daily Rhythm. Early Morning Silence Is When I am Most Productive

Waking up at three or four in the morning has not been unusual for me lately. Around half of the blog posts I have published this year were either conceived or started during those early hours. I would wake up, start thi…

1 423 reads
16 Mar 2025

AI-Powered Investigations: The Future of Exposing Crime

Today, I realised how dramatically AI can help in investigating criminal activities through the analysis of publicly available information. This topic has caught my attention. When I think about it, investigators, journa…

2 405 reads
15 Mar 2025

Fear is Useful: AI and Robotics as a Threat to Our Freedom and Security

Many people today fail to grasp the risks that come with the rapid advancement of AI and robotics. It is time to ask the hard questions: What scenarios await us in the future? How do we prepare for them, and how should w…

2 551 reads
8 Mar 2025

We Do not Think, We Just Consume.

Lately, I have been noticing something new in job interviews—candidates come in "prepared," but in a strange way. They get an hour to prepare, and they use it to pull as much information as possible from ChatGPT. Then th…

1 650 reads
6 Mar 2025

What Is Performance Marketing – and How Is AI Changing It?

Performance marketing isn’t just about ads, data, and analytics. It’s about identifying weak spots, recognising potential, and making the most of it. It’s a continuous process of learning, testing, and optimisation. Thos…

2 372 reads
25 Feb 2025

The Future World: Unprecedented Inequalities, Chaos, Uncertainty—and Beyond, I See Nothing

The more I think about the future, the more I realise how many essential questions remain unanswered. Maybe I am wrong, but it feels like our imagination simply is not enough to grasp what lies ahead in five or ten years…

2 752 reads
23 Feb 2025

The Meaning of My Life

In my previous post, I reflected on what would give people meaning in an era when artificial intelligence and automation take over many tasks that once defined us. However, after finishing that article, a question came t…

1 774 reads
22 Feb 2025

Meaning of Life in the Age of AI — When Machines Handle Everything

What is the meaning of life when AI handles everything? Drawing on Heidegger's concept of existential anxiety, this essay explores human purpose in the age of automation — and why the answer will not come from machines.

4 120 reads
22 Feb 2025

Which professions will survive the technological revolution and the rise of artificial intelligence?

Which jobs will survive AI? The real question is what people will truly need in ten years. Water, safety, meaning, community. Can a robot care for the elderly with empathy? The future of work depends on us.

3 410 reads
21 Feb 2025

AI as a Threat to the Global Financial System — Why This Should Concern Everyone

What if we are only weeks or months away from the moment when new technologies, in the wrong hands, test the fragility of banks, stock exchanges, pension funds, and other financial institutions? What if one morning we wa…

1 940 reads
16 Feb 2025

Flow, Special Interests, and Hyperfocus: What Makes Neurodivergent Thinking Different

When I talk to people about someone with certain unique traits, I often hear statements like, “You cannot deal with him, he is autistic.” The word “autistic” is almost exclusively used in a negative context, whether as a…

1 759 reads
12 Feb 2025

Messy Data, Wrong Conclusions, Bad Decisions — Why Data Quality Is a Bigger Problem Than You Think

We live in an era where the accuracy and speed of information are incredibly valuable. The opposite of that – poor use of information, inaccuracies, or misinterpretations – significantly increases the likelihood of disas…

2 062 reads
8 Feb 2025

Technological Europe: We Need Awareness, Investment, and a Winning Mentality

Europe not only has potential but already boasts incredible tech companies shaping the future. To realise this potential, we need to raise awareness about our achievements, develop a more robust capital market, and creat…

2 149 reads
8 Feb 2025

What Is the CAPE Ratio — and Why It is Signalling a Dot-com Bubble Repeat

Do you know what the Cyclically Adjusted Price-to-Earnings Ratio (CAPE) is? If not, you probably should. Right now, we are at levels reminiscent of the dotcom bubble at the turn of the millennium.

2 126 reads
1 Feb 2025

A Year in Blogging: Reflections on 2024

To everyone who has read, shared, and engaged with my blog last year—thank you. Your thoughts and feedback make this process even more meaningful. Here’s to another year of learning, questioning, and writing.

577 reads
1 Feb 2025

Sharing Sensitive Data with AI: Why Most People Don't Realise the Risk

It is not just about what we deliberately input into AI. Our interactions with chatbots also reveal our knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and thinking patterns. Essentially, this creates a database of the intelligenc…

1 909 reads
25 Jan 2025

How Robert Fico Divides Slovak Society — and Why It Tears Families Apart

Returning to Slovakia after spending time in Prague, I immediately felt the growing division that has gripped the nation. Under Robert Fico's leadership, policies such as questioning Slovakia's EU membership and shifting…

1 644 reads
25 Jan 2025

Long-Term Thinking: How I Apply It to Work, Finances and Life

Long-term thinking is not a strategy I picked up — it is how my mind works. Here is how I apply it to my work, finances, personal growth and relationships.

1 733 reads
19 Jan 2025

A Home Turned Gallery: My Sister's World of Painting

Visiting my sister Kristína after some time, I was struck by how many more paintings she had than I remembered. Her space felt transformed, almost like an art gallery. Her paintings were everywhere—not hung on the walls…

1 852 reads
4 Jan 2025

What is Philosophy? What Did I Actually Study and Why?

The question of what philosophy is might be an excellent starting point for a newcomer to the field. However, I’ve reached a point where debating its definition feels less important. Philosophy, derived from Greek, trans…

2 085 reads
3 Jan 2025

Stock Market Optimism and Media Manipulation — How Financial News Misleads Investors

During the prime-time news, the report confidently claimed that the growth of the S&P 500 index was directly tied to the growth of corporate earnings. Accompanied by charts of recent stock price developments, this narrat…

1 877 reads
21 Dec 2024

Health First: It Can't Just Be a Phrase

From this moment forward, I’m treating my health as a top-priority project. This means making a comprehensive to-do list, setting clear deadlines, and holding myself accountable. I need to listen to my body’s signals, pr…

1 983 reads
8 Dec 2024

Stock Market Overvalued? Signs of a Bubble Most Investors Miss

Is the stock market overvalued? When I analyse sectors individually, the optimism puzzles me. I increased my cash position — not from fear, but from reflection.

2 015 reads
1 Dec 2024

Every Great Thing I have Achieved, I have Achieved Through Perseverance

When reflecting on my greatest strengths, I do not point to talent. As I have written before, I do not see myself as exceptionally gifted—I know people who are more talented than I am. But what drives my progress is some…

2 377 reads
31 Aug 2024

Why I Joined Volt Europa — and What This Pan-European Party Actually Stands For

In 2019, when I first learned about Volt Europa—a movement dedicated to driving positive change across Europe with a distinctly innovative approach—I was immediately intrigued. Volt Europa stands out as the most forward-…

4 216 reads
17 Aug 2024

My Hometown: Banská Bystrica

From an early age, I recognised that I was part of a larger, interconnected world.

3 194 reads
10 Aug 2024

Personality and Mutual Chemistry: More Important than Experience

What do I look for in potential colleagues? Good chemistry, common sense, and internal motivation.

2 521 reads
28 Jul 2024

The Stock Market's Changing Moods — Investor Psychology Drives Prices More Than Fundamentals

Investing is as much about understanding the human mind as it is about analysing numbers. Over the years, I have found that staying attuned to my emotional responses to market fluctuations has helped me better navigate t…

2 610 reads
27 Jul 2024

I see Every Non-optimal Decision as a Mistake, Regardless of the Outcome

I found it interesting to show the contrast of someone who openly admits to constant mistakes without fearing it will harm their perceived competence with someone who strives to appear infallible.

2 786 reads
21 Jul 2024

How to Start Investing in the World Stock Index ETF

I will describe how to start investing and what to watch out for. I will not focus on investments in individual shares. For most people, this is an inappropriate form of investment.

3 095 reads
20 Jul 2024

INTJ Personality Traits: What They Look Like in Real Life

What is the INTJ personality? A personal perspective on INTJ traits, thinking patterns, and how it shows up in real life.

3 162 reads
14 Jul 2024

The Most Important Thing About Investing is to Start

If I could go back to 2016, I would tell my younger self one thing: start investing immediately.

2 604 reads
6 Jul 2024

Investment Beginnings: The First €50,000 Was the Most Difficult

Investing 50% of My Income: Seven Years of Low-Cost Living in Prague.

3 165 reads
22 Jun 2024

I am incredibly lucky

2016 was a landmark year for me as I began one of the most beautiful periods of my life by entering my dream university.

3 224 reads
14 Apr 2024

I Was Wrong: AI's Unexpected Role in Enhancing My Coding Skills

When I first started using ChatGPT for SQL queries, I was blown away by how it transformed hours-long tasks into mere minutes of processing. However, This staggering efficiency brought an unexpected quandary—did I still…

3 006 reads
4 Feb 2024

The 8 Best Philosophy Books That Changed How I Think — From Marcus Aurelius to Heidegger

A personal ranking of 8 philosophy books that permanently changed my thinking — from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations to Heidegger's Being and Time. Why I have revisited some of them a hundred times.

4 091 reads
25 Dec 2023

Why Introverts Do Their Best Work Alone: My Case for Solitude

Why do introverts need alone time? Here is how solitude, quiet, and doing nothing become my most productive mode — and why I protect it.

3 161 reads
15 Oct 2023

Doubt vs. Determination: Striking the Right Balance

I listen carefully to the moderate and reflective, but I act with those with whom we agree on a common goal and are determined to achieve it.

3 404 reads
17 Sep 2023

Please speak clearly. I am lost in riddles.

To me, many commonly used signals and subtle indications feel like riddles. Therefore, I plead...

3 338 reads
27 Aug 2023

The core of my productivity lies in embracing simplicity

This shift, from scattered multitasking to streamlined simplicity, has been my key to unlocking a more fulfilling and effective professional life.

3 502 reads
16 Apr 2023

Decision-Making in Marketing and Advertising Under Uncertainty

A reflection on decision-making in marketing and advertising under uncertainty, risk and probability — and why good decisions should not be judged only by outcomes.

4 500 reads
25 Mar 2023

My First Impressions of Generative AI — and Why It Left Me Feeling Empty

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to utilise so-called artificial intelligence to generate an SQL query, which would have otherwise required hours of manual effort. While it saved me a significant amount of time, it had a…

4 464 reads

Richard Golian — Data, Performance Marketing & AI

Head of Performance in e-commerce. I lead data-driven marketing, build BI systems, train AI agents, and apply phenomenology where analytics falls short. Based in Prague.

8 981 reads
2 Jan 2023

What Is Phenomenology — And How I Actually Apply It in Everyday Life

Most people dismiss phenomenology as too abstract. I studied it for three years at Charles University and still apply it every day — in marketing, investing, and AI.

5 986 reads
17 Nov 2019

Velvet Revolution: Andrej Sámel — The First to Warn Havel About Mečiar

Andrej Sámel warned about the breakup of Czechoslovakia and spoke out against Mečiar in the early 1990s. A personal and historical perspective on a turning point in Slovak history.

4 768 reads
30 Mar 2019

How I became a child again

Something changed in the second year at university. However, there was no quick turnaround, it was a gradual change. Changing from “I am convinced that” through “I think that” to “I am thinking about”. It was a return to…

6 520 reads
23 Jun 2019

The Largest Czech Protest Since 1989: The Demonstration Against Andrej Babiš

The protest at Letná is the biggest demonstration against the government since 1989's Velvet Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people protest against the prime minister, but above all for justice and the rule of law.

3 661 reads
18 Mar 2019

Who Are Volt Europa? The Pan-European Party That Wants to Unite the Continent

A real pan-European political party? A single program, an individual membership, one financing and one headquarters? One might assume parties like that would make European Parliament (henceforth EP) elections simpler and…

4 316 reads
22 Feb 2019

One Year After the Murder of Ján Kuciak — Slovakia's Fight for Justice and a Decent Country

Thousands of people protest for decent Slovakia one year after the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak.

4 025 reads
27.4.2025 (last updated)

Political situation in Slovakia

What is the political situation in Slovakia right now? Which political parties are the most important ones? And what are the connections between them? In the diagram above you can see the current state of the party spect…

2 652 reads
26 Oct 2016

Oath of Loyalty to the Values of Charles University in Prague

I promise to properly exercise the rights and fulfil the duties of a member of the academic community of Charles University.

4 631 reads
About

Performance marketing · Writing · Building things

I work in marketing. I studied politics and philosophy at Charles University in Prague — and philosophy changed how I see everything. I write about technology, finance, manipulation, and what it means to be human in a world that is changing faster than most people realise.

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