Thought provoking
And at the same time though, I do think that there’s been a serious decline in the quality of things that we build and a kind of disposability to the world. This is what really saddens me and it goes back to beauty and the way that that interweaves with writing and AI. We got so good at making stuff in China that if your shirt doesn’t hold up,... See more
How we traded beauty for efficiency
The reason we’re so increasingly intolerant of long articles and why we skim them, why we skip forward even in a short video that reduces a 300-page book into a three-minute animation — is that we’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of claiming it
Sari Azout • Things I'm thinking about
I am aiming to be as optimistic as I possibly can because a big dose of optimism is required to make better things
Eliot Peper • The Thursday Murder Club
“I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence, it’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for. I think finding, incorporating and then representing beauty is what humans do. With or without authorities telling us what it is, I think it would exist... See more
Brain Food: Mastery of Oneself
On Beauty by Toni Morrison
Write in a way that lets you refine your thoughts about the things that matter. Write to experience what you care about in higher resolution—write to enhance your feeling of aliveness
Henrik Karlsson • Advice for a Friend Who Wants to Start a Blog
y folk artist, I mean “an individual creating art reflecting a particular culture, society, or community.”
I argue that this digital folk renaissance, characterized by memes, viral videos, and grassroots content, faces an existential threat from artificial intelligence, much like folk art faced a threat from the First Industrial Revolution. As AI... See more
I argue that this digital folk renaissance, characterized by memes, viral videos, and grassroots content, faces an existential threat from artificial intelligence, much like folk art faced a threat from the First Industrial Revolution. As AI... See more
The Content Creator as Algorithmic Folk Artist
This is a model I also use for my creative work. Last year:
- I released an essay as a limited edition zip file to express the gravity of the work in my eyes
- The piece generated more than $1,000 from collectors in a week
- More than a hundred collectors wrote long responses that were incredibly meaningful
- The essay continues to have a strong online shelf
Yancey Strickler • Stop posting, start releasing: The 2025 Creative Playbook
Interesting concept for the digital artisane
. Remixes and memes abound, but almost no one shares anything weird, original or different. People wake up, perhaps with ambitions to make unique choices they believe are their own, only to find that the options have been filtered, curated, and ‘tailored to existing tastes’ by algorithms that claim to know them best.
Adam Singer • Don't let machines or the crowd decide your world
It’s interesting because a reposted meme must have been created by someone. So, some people are original creators. However, I think it comes down to volume and proportion, how many reposts are there for every original post. 10x, 100x, 1000x. I would add that the incentives/commercialisation of the content creator only fuels the volume dynamic.
“We’ve never had more freedom, more choices. But in reality, most people are subtly funneled into the same streams, the same pools of ‘socially approved’ culture, cuisine and ideas.... You might think you’re choosing, but you never really are. When your ideas, interests, and even daily meals are largely inspired by whatever was already approved,... See more