This is an unresolved problem with “city state” futures. Historically, city-state eras (Italy, hanseatic league) still had coherent global sensibilities. They weren’t frogs in wells trying to run culture larps in bubbkes.
Conversation
This is a good example for this thread. It is a good insight. 10 years ago, you could have spun a 4000 word feature out of this that would have gone viral, because it would have made meaning out of the ML moment. Now it just sits there.
Quote Tweet
Replying to @vgr
The next iteration of "bicycle for the mind", decoupling artistic skill from artistic expression and unlocking the creative potential of folks who haven't spent a lifetime honing their skills. You won't have to be a highly skilled (painter/musician/dancer/etc.) to make great art.
3
28
Replying to
hmmm.
I always thought that an isolated idea like that "shouldn't" ever have gotten so much credit as insightful.
No shit, a tool that automates art creation will enable more people to generate art! That's not a Thing.
2
2
Replying to
I think there was a time when it was. Peak Clay Shirky era when it was not in fact as obvious as it is now.
1
1
Replying to
I think I agree. Sort of.
Clearly "social media enables everyone to be their own publisher" was a new idea once.
But Clay Shirky &co were saying it long after it was obvious. I assume you say such things to create a sort of banner to rally behind? "We the online creators"?
1
1
Replying to
Back then I think it unblocked learned helplessness for many. It was news to most people that you could just set up a website and start publishing, you didn’t need permission from publishing industry. I imagine there are similar unblockings possible now, just not universal ones.
3
2
I read a survey of what people think they'd actually do if Earth was about to be struck by a meteor, and the answers were largely things like "go see a sunset" and "visit my family", very few had violent urges. Perhaps society is in general retreat as it anticipates the end?
1
1
Quote Tweet
Could be a (healthy?) response to not having a future, instead looking inwards and/or into the past for complexity and meaning twitter.com/webdevMason/st…
2
I 100% agree, but the insight that it is a *response* is more important than the parenthetical there.
1
1
As it happens it was Sarah who pointed me to a very good paper on this that’s since become an anchor reference for me
I wrote an essay about it, actually: wrestlinggnon.com/extropy/2019/0
In retrospect I think what I would say to my past self is something like
"You need to understand these people are dying, in some sense already dead. The kind thing is to let them die in peace. Bother only the living."
1
1




