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This is all highly contextual, of course. Someone may be alive in one area but dead in another. For example, I'm reasonably alive in my career choices, but a vegetable in matters of personal style. (Not *entirely* dead though... I'm on wife support.)
One sure-fire way to tell that someone's alive is when they surprise you. I think this explains a lot of the appeal of artists. Even if their art isn't particularly compelling, at least they're making things that have never been made before. At least they're showing signs of life
This is also the appeal of the "independent thinker." Even when they're wrong, at least they're trying to do something new. It doesn't have to be 100% new to the world (although that's nice). As long as it's new to the thinker, it counts as a sign of life.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with being a dead player, btw. If your culture sets up good patterns for you to emulate, you can get along fine. It's just risky, because when circumstances change, you might blindly follow everyone off a cliff.
One area where I think I'm reasonably alive is the blogging space. Someday I'll write about all the different choices I've made over the years and why I made them. Because this is my area, I'm particularly attuned to the aliveness of others.
There are many people I could mention here, but the person who really stands out is @vgr. He has innovated and surprised me so many times over the years: residencies, Refactor Camp, Breaking Smart, experiments with newsletters, running a longform course, blogchains, ...
I don't enjoy the results of every experiment (nor would I expect to), but I LOVE that he's always tinkering and trying new things.
Q: In what domain(s) are you most alive? What are some examples of other people's aliveness that you especially appreciate?
And humor, of course Comedy requires you to know the audience's expectations
Bob Dylan's career. Constant reinvention.
Interesting point. Thought this way it becomes a case for funding (all kind of) art. From the article: “Societies with few live players will stagnate; societies with many live players will develop and adapt.”
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