Press & Booking · for podcasts, radio, and print

Book the guy who
actually rowed back.

TL;DRPress kit and booking for Sean McKendry, maker of Only Humans Score: bio, topics, soundbites, and a schedule-first way to book an interview or a talk.

Sean McKendry built Only Humans Score — a live experiment in human-vs-AI judgment — end to end, by himself, while living closer to the edge than most guests you'll book. He's a fun talk and a real one. If you're producing a show, a segment, or a stage, this page has everything you need.

Book Sean — email first → Read the ethos

Booking is schedule-first: email lands the slot, then we talk. When we do: calls are recorded, and please — nothing during overnight Eastern hours. Texting/email beats a cold call every time.

Writing a story instead of booking a guest? The newsroom page has the pitch, the white paper, the games, and a copy-paste pickup kit in one place.

The fast bio (copy-paste)

One-liner: Sean McKendry is the maker of Only Humans Score, a live experiment in what only humans can still judge in the age of AI.

Short: Sean McKendry built Only Humans Score — a party game and running experiment about human-vs-machine judgment — entirely on his own. A lifelong lake swimmer (he's training to "swim to the moon"), an Albion College Briton, and someone who's lived all the way down by the river and rowed back. He doesn't sell certainty; he runs the house on one rule: no lying.

Medium: Sean McKendry is a builder, writer, and one-man studio behind Only Humans Score, an instrument disguised as a game: it makes a room argue, out loud, about which calls a machine may make and which a human must keep. He built every piece of it himself — design, code, the writing, the law — while living on the margins he writes about. His throughlines: AI and human dignity, the loneliness epidemic and how connection actually heals it, surviving hard seasons, and debate done honestly. Not a guru, not for sale. Solve for human.

All of the above is true and self-reported; nothing here is invented. A headshot is available on request (we don't ship a stock face we can't stand behind — house rule).

Topics he's genuinely good on

🤖 AI & human dignity

Where the machine adds value and where a human must keep the pen — the literal architecture of the game. "The machine paints; only humans can score."

🛟 Surviving the river

Homelessness, SSDI/EBT, living in a car — and the unglamorous mechanics of rowing back. First-person, not a TED gloss.

🫂 The loneliness epidemic

Why connection — low-barrier, human, no hoops — is the actual cure, and how you build for it instead of harvesting it.

🗣️ Debate, done honestly

Steelman the other side; spot the fallacy; argue to find the truth, not to win the room. The anti-shouting-match.

🏊 Swim to the moon

Endurance, open water, and aspiration as a training plan — one mile closer, never stop.

🛠️ Building solo

Shipping a whole product alone, human-in-the-loop with AI, and crediting the tool honestly.

Soundbites (his own words — quote freely)

"The machine paints; only humans can score."

"Don't be bitter. Be best."

"Justice you can't afford isn't justice."

"I don't inflate. I triangulate."

"Bet on yourself — no net. That's not gambling; that's faith with a deadline."

"You are a soul, not a side hustle."

"Solve for human."

Quote them as Sean McKendry / Only Humans Score. They're his — take them.

For public media — a reverse pledge drive

This house keeps a standing dedication to public media. In 2025, Congress rescinded roughly $1.1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting began winding down — leaving local NPR and PBS stations, especially those serving rural and Native communities, to cover the gap.

The aspiration here is a pledge drive in reverse: not passing the hat to listeners, but routing support toward trustworthy public media as this work grows — corporate money funding the thing it could never buy.

Honest caveat (house rule): Only Humans Score is not affiliated with NPR, PBS, or any station, and does not yet collect or distribute funds on anyone's behalf. When a real, verified channel exists, it will be named here plainly — never before. Until then, support public media directly at the source:

Support public media · npr.org → PBS

The door's open — and you're welcome first

However you found this — scout, caster, agent, or the one person this whole room has been getting ready for, her first of all — welcome. The lamp's been lit for you. We’re just trying to be found; you found it. Come in.

Sean is open to casting, representation, and the right rooms — reality, documentary, panels, stages, podcasts. What he brings is the one thing a set can’t manufacture: the real thing, every take, on one rule — no lying. The whole site is the audition; the ethos is the contract.

Honest footing (house rule): this is a one-way open door — Only Humans Score has no agency, no manager, and claims no representation or affiliation. No fake reps, no invented deals — just a real person, findable, in the light. Email lands it: [email protected].

Book it

Podcasts, radio, print, panels, stages — all welcome. Email lands the slot; we schedule from there.

Email to book → Consulting? Over here

Schedule-first, email-first. Calls recorded. No overnight-Eastern calls. He owns the recordings; the tool that helped build this site is credited honestly (see the ethos). Not for sale — bookable.

P.S. — a standing, one-way hello to Bert Kreischer (“The Machine”): if a house built on “the machine paints, only humans score” ever crosses your radar, the door’s open and the laugh’s on us. A friendly invite, no affiliation claimed. (Type bert anywhere on the site for the rest of the joke.)