What we value

Examining what this "value" thing is we are all trying to create

The binge eating and compulsive spending, the perfectionism and procrastination, the ways we habitually go into hiding.

The Source 🌊

A lot of this is rooted in societal pressures.

What we have long called the creator economy is evolving to become more of a “meaning economy,” where the creators and brands and experiences that engage us will do so through story, craft, and a deeper and more sophisticated sense of meaning. The creator economy was ultimately driven by content (enabled by ubiquitous access to content creation and... See more

Meaning is tied to values. Values are scarce.

I gave this pitch today and one of the people said this was the slide they had to screenshot because they're now thinking about win-win-win and how we can do that more fuck yeah man it's spreading https://t.co/MSVRahrNiy

Defender

x.com

win-win-win scenarios

Collapsed states are simpler states, so anyone working towards a simpler state — and anyone telling an intelligible tale is doing precisely that — is working towards a collapse. The failure of a world begins with a failure of the imagination to comprehend increased complexity, and an urge to retreat to greater simplicity.

every story is a degrowth story

I don’t think this is necessarily degrowth, it’s compression. This feels like simplicity is a return to understanding of what’s valuable after building on top of it. It’s the flower budding, blooming, wilting, and blooming again. It’s cyclical and growth oriented, because uncapped growth is deadly to the environment and will be rejected.

Through this work, we can create economies that truly serve human flourishing rather than merely extracting value from human activity—economies built on seeing and being seen for the unique value each person can contribute.

Leo Guinan • The Memetic Foundation of Human Value - A New Economic Paradigm

We need to see people for the value they create

Creators make money so they can make stuff, instead of the other way around.

Dr. Gena Gorlin • Fantastic Builders and Where to Find Them, 5th Installment

This is an important thing to realize.

Paladin saves the world? Degrowth story.

Barbarian masculine energy saves the world? Degrowth story.

Enlightened sexless bureaucracy saves the world? Degrowth story.

Nurturing feminine energy saves the world? Degrowth story.

Unbridled technological acceleration saves the world? Degrowth story.

Unbridled GDP growth saves the world? Degrowth story.

Saintly

every story is a degrowth story

These I agree are degrowth stories.

I think the connection he’s making is to the book, so that the loss of complexity in society leaves people feeling lost and unvalued, and that leads to societal collapse.

What if we don’t tie society to complexity?

Anne Helen Petersen once memorably described this as "LARPing your job"—performing a theatrical version of productivity. Workers engage in elaborate displays of "being at work": staying visible on Slack, responding to emails at all hours, and maintaining a digital presence that signals industriousness. The tools have evolved—from software that... See more

AI Phobia Is Just Fear That ‘Easier’ Equals ‘Cheating’

If you pretend to pay them, they’ll pretend to work.

Work has to be tied to performance and salary. People have to have an obvious target to shoot for.