The Cost of Creation
Have you guys noticed that I try to write something thought provoking every day? I’ve created a rather arbitrary expectation of myself for a variety of reasons. One, practice makes perfect, and I have a bunch of fake AI writers to compete with now.
In the past (a rather distant past at this point), I wanted perfect grammar and formulaic, logical insolubility. I wrote all of my own stuff, in the same way I do now, but would then funnel it through what is perhaps one of the best grammar and correction tools… AI.
In retrospect, few people wanted that but me. I see AI in the comments. I see it in others' writing. Mayyybe it’s human. Maybe it’s just the artificial progenitor of our future destruction. Now I let whatever I’ve missed go, focusing on delivering the most human creation I can, letting any inconsistencies or slip-ups speak to that reality. I won’t let it touch my work now.
Personally, I think we should develop a critical eye of AI use. It’s going to strip us of our creative arts, and true human expression will soon be so informed by this monster that it will cease to resemble anything authentic, even when AI hasn’t touched it. Why? Because we become like the things we give our attention to.
I’m indebted to you all. I live every day, knowing it’s only through the financial support of those who come here to gain insight that we’ve been able to fund a journey dedicated to big ideas. I don’t know that people fully realize how hard the algorithm is on this kind of content.
We sometimes have to repost the same thing 3-4 times, changing the pic, the opening line, the paragraph structure, etc, to get the algorithm to put it in front of only a quarter of people that some bullshit “made it here!” post gets. Why? Because the algorithm doesn’t give a crap about what’s healthy, beneficial, or even what you deeply care about. IT JUST WANTS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.
When you scroll your page, it’s no reflection of the real world or even who you are. It’s more so a reflection of your most prominent desires and judgements.
Do you hate something? You don’t even have to click on it. If you only hover over it a moment longer, Facebook knows. Do you love it? It’s tracking the milliseconds. And it doesn’t care if it’s some kind of vice you should really let go of. As counterintuitive as it sounds, you might likewise be creating a kind of positive filter bubble for yourself that causes you to avoid important realities.
Not realities of the political kind, but egoic realities, in the way some of my introspective yet critical work points the finger at our lesser traits and habits that we would all benefit from guarding against.
Now think about what WE make. Longform, intellectually challenging content which markets no quick fix, material good, or good news for bad habits. It’s often filled with a couple of words you might need to look up, on purpose, because that’s how we grow.
And guess what! Facebook hates it, and most people don’t want to put forth that kind of effort. We lose followers and engagement to it. And we know… we KNOW, we could be making way more money if we only caved to the pressures of consumer capitalism.
We rely on you to make it possible; but you have, and so we do our very best to do right by you. I feel a compulsion to create beyond my limits. My work pervades my thoughts, and it’s stripping me of presence.
To be totally honest, I don’t know how long I can keep up the pace. The mission and commitment remains, but I feel like I’m not giving myself enough time to read, meditate, and consume the healthiest information which has enabled me to talk about the things we do here.
I suppose this is all to say, we really appreciate you guys. We want those of you who come here every day for our work to be able to count on it. I probably just need to dial it back to, like, every other day. Or perhaps, one day a long piece and the next day a simple quote. Make better use of what I’ve already made and recycle the stuff fewer people have seen… Maybe take a weekend off like a normal person every now and then? I dunno.
Blah blah blah, love you guys. We’ll still be here, but I have to do a better job of taking care of myself before caring for the rest of the world. We all do. Change the inside, change the outside, n’ all that!
