For me, what you're describing is the continued commodification of our world. Capitalism is a strange beast that needs to continually find new avenues of consumption, which writers like Guy Debord thought alienated us from everyday life.
Even things like rebellion are commoditized through rock and roll or skateboarding. Art is commoditized as a day out at the museum, complete with an expensive meal at their cafe and a stop at the gift shop on the way out. The danger, emotion, and risk are removed to water it down, commoditize it, and give it mass appeal.
While I don't have all the answers, I think the antidote is to take more risks.
The commodification of everything is an inevitability we can't avoid, but we can choose to do difficult things and avoid consumption as a hobby or pastime. The satisfaction you get from mastering something like playing a musical instrument, baking, or racing bicycles will be far more satisfying than passively observing someone else's life through a screen.
Yes, great point - and capitalism is great to provide abundance so we should have it. The answer for today is really simple, do some things not "for the market" but because you want to. Stop looking for approval from others for this. The real revolution is not to consume the media seed oils, and it turns out when you craft things yourself they are infinitely more satisfying. No one is forcing you to be part of the mass culture circus. Also sites like YouTube are a bright spot for monetization of cool creators. Music might never be solved and because my music life is so great I don't really care most days (except that they pipe this stuff in to public places so we cannot escape this prison).
True. I think what holds many back is that you can experience the simulated version, so you never bother with the real version. Real life is scary, fraught with challenges and temporary dead ends. It's easy to scroll endlessly... it's hard to do stuff.
I spent a lot of years struggling to find a creative outlet that was for me first, the world second, so I especially resonate with the later sections, particularly this:
"Anyone reading this site likely has an expansive, complex inner-world that you express through some sort of creative outlet. It’s likely not for financial return, and that’s honestly for the best here."
Reminds me, too, of Austin Kleon in his book "Keep Going":
"The minute anybody shows any talent for anything, we suggest they turn it into a profession. This is our best compliment: telling somebody they’re so good at what they love to do they could make money at it. We used to have hobbies; now we have 'side hustles.'"
This was a nice read and mirrors my thinking, although with different words. When I see the word creativity, I substitute it with “play”. Then I look around and wonder how many people I know play at their own interests.
The greatest injustice is convincing people to be serious about life and not play around regularly. School, work, many families, and too many social groups beat playfulness out of us if we aren’t careful.
I agree with most of this but don't agree with the Tina K view of saying that normie NPCs are arguably "no better than farm animals". I think there is a real temptation to dismiss others who "don't get it". But I think that self-fulfills into something not great if fully embraced. Need to hold space for redemption. As hard as that is when seeing people who are TikTok brained.
As someone who has a weird career path, always worked for themselves, undertaken many failed ventures and creative outlets, you nailed it on the head here – I don't ask for permission.
Most of these normies go and use AI to create brainless articles (and pics) and spam it all over the socials thinking they created something unique. They don't understand that they became slaves for the machine that slowly strips their creativity. On the other hand, people who create for the joy of it, will be in for the treat when the cycle turns and authentic stuff becomes an asset again.
Adam, how do you reconcile the idea that everything is shallow for the normie in which he does not pursue anything higher? And yet in another essay of yours, you explicitly tell one not to pursue your passions? I don’t think the starving artists is anything to strive for here, but at some point, if you want culture/society/people to call upon something transcendent, they are going to have to burn the ships.
If the we all just do what you suggest and go into what the market asks of us, what the normie demands, I think we are left with a lot of the same. The boring soulless nihilculture you speak on.
You can work on something the market values to provide near infinite time for creative pursuits if you are disciplined enough to not use NFLX etc. I've paid rent of friends who pursued the artist thing full time to keep them from being homeless. Reality is a brutal and uncaring place. There are many artistic jobs that pay well. Pursuing your passion full time is probably what a child thinks of reality. I'm not even saying you have to work for someone else here btw. I have other friends who do things like mastering work freelance in order to pay the bills and write music in free time. These are touring musicians who do have many gigs! Both these things are aligned with their creative spirit. It's doable. Pragmatism does not make you a normie it makes you not a degenerate, there's a big difference. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear in the other post.
I 99% agree. The part that bugs me is the idea that it's a trade-off between selling out and making a living, that somehow we need to split our time and fund the real creation with whatever else.
I might be an incorrigible optimist, but I believe meaningful art and creation can find their audience too. I'm not denying it's hard or claiming I'm there. But in the spirit of resisting the great normization (or is it still normalization?), let's not short-change our dreams.
One of the best moments of my life was when I was leaving my cubicle life behind to swing for the fences at my dream job. I was taking a huge pay cut and getting out of the safe, cushy, predictable world of government work, and in one last attempt to keep me on, the contractor lead of my cubicle life said to me: “I just want you to know I’ve seen people do this before, go and try their dream job, and they fail and come back a year later. I think you’re making a mistake.” Fuck you, dude- it took a lot of work but I made it, and now I make more money than ever and have traveled the world and done things beyond my wildest dreams and have seen more success than most people will ever achieve in a lifetime. That said, now I’ve become comfortable and find my mind wandering into the risk/creation realm once again.
I've always felt creation is superior to consumption as a form of self expression, but this post reminds me that view is incomplete. To consume everything without applying discernment/reflection is to let *your* personal mental filter atrophy.
So maybe normies don't simply have that value backwards, it's that they their values aren't intrinsic or considered at all. 'Just enjoy it!'
I admit, I've enjoyed meaningless but catchy 'piped in aural toxins' for too long myself :) Good one Adam!
There’s so much that we humans have to give that it would be such a waste not to use all the talent and express the creativity we have within. Thank you for sharing this!
That first sentence! Guilty as charged of each of those and much more! It hasn't been/isn't easy, but it's easier than not following my own north star.
Legalized psychedelics would *greatly* help fix this btw, it's one area a therapeutic (that most don't understand and our own authorities don't even term as such) would help nudge the world in a better direction.
And look, usually drugs aren't an answer -but here we are down enough a bad path I think would be a really useful reset for many (of course, not everyone, but we should be free to make that determination)
For me, what you're describing is the continued commodification of our world. Capitalism is a strange beast that needs to continually find new avenues of consumption, which writers like Guy Debord thought alienated us from everyday life.
Even things like rebellion are commoditized through rock and roll or skateboarding. Art is commoditized as a day out at the museum, complete with an expensive meal at their cafe and a stop at the gift shop on the way out. The danger, emotion, and risk are removed to water it down, commoditize it, and give it mass appeal.
While I don't have all the answers, I think the antidote is to take more risks.
The commodification of everything is an inevitability we can't avoid, but we can choose to do difficult things and avoid consumption as a hobby or pastime. The satisfaction you get from mastering something like playing a musical instrument, baking, or racing bicycles will be far more satisfying than passively observing someone else's life through a screen.
Yes, great point - and capitalism is great to provide abundance so we should have it. The answer for today is really simple, do some things not "for the market" but because you want to. Stop looking for approval from others for this. The real revolution is not to consume the media seed oils, and it turns out when you craft things yourself they are infinitely more satisfying. No one is forcing you to be part of the mass culture circus. Also sites like YouTube are a bright spot for monetization of cool creators. Music might never be solved and because my music life is so great I don't really care most days (except that they pipe this stuff in to public places so we cannot escape this prison).
True. I think what holds many back is that you can experience the simulated version, so you never bother with the real version. Real life is scary, fraught with challenges and temporary dead ends. It's easy to scroll endlessly... it's hard to do stuff.
I spent a lot of years struggling to find a creative outlet that was for me first, the world second, so I especially resonate with the later sections, particularly this:
"Anyone reading this site likely has an expansive, complex inner-world that you express through some sort of creative outlet. It’s likely not for financial return, and that’s honestly for the best here."
Reminds me, too, of Austin Kleon in his book "Keep Going":
"The minute anybody shows any talent for anything, we suggest they turn it into a profession. This is our best compliment: telling somebody they’re so good at what they love to do they could make money at it. We used to have hobbies; now we have 'side hustles.'"
This was a nice read and mirrors my thinking, although with different words. When I see the word creativity, I substitute it with “play”. Then I look around and wonder how many people I know play at their own interests.
The greatest injustice is convincing people to be serious about life and not play around regularly. School, work, many families, and too many social groups beat playfulness out of us if we aren’t careful.
I agree with most of this but don't agree with the Tina K view of saying that normie NPCs are arguably "no better than farm animals". I think there is a real temptation to dismiss others who "don't get it". But I think that self-fulfills into something not great if fully embraced. Need to hold space for redemption. As hard as that is when seeing people who are TikTok brained.
As someone who has a weird career path, always worked for themselves, undertaken many failed ventures and creative outlets, you nailed it on the head here – I don't ask for permission.
Great read! The AI-Normies be like this soon…very soon:
P.S. Gladiator II is garbage and no one can change my mind 😂
Most of these normies go and use AI to create brainless articles (and pics) and spam it all over the socials thinking they created something unique. They don't understand that they became slaves for the machine that slowly strips their creativity. On the other hand, people who create for the joy of it, will be in for the treat when the cycle turns and authentic stuff becomes an asset again.
Adam, how do you reconcile the idea that everything is shallow for the normie in which he does not pursue anything higher? And yet in another essay of yours, you explicitly tell one not to pursue your passions? I don’t think the starving artists is anything to strive for here, but at some point, if you want culture/society/people to call upon something transcendent, they are going to have to burn the ships.
If the we all just do what you suggest and go into what the market asks of us, what the normie demands, I think we are left with a lot of the same. The boring soulless nihilculture you speak on.
You can work on something the market values to provide near infinite time for creative pursuits if you are disciplined enough to not use NFLX etc. I've paid rent of friends who pursued the artist thing full time to keep them from being homeless. Reality is a brutal and uncaring place. There are many artistic jobs that pay well. Pursuing your passion full time is probably what a child thinks of reality. I'm not even saying you have to work for someone else here btw. I have other friends who do things like mastering work freelance in order to pay the bills and write music in free time. These are touring musicians who do have many gigs! Both these things are aligned with their creative spirit. It's doable. Pragmatism does not make you a normie it makes you not a degenerate, there's a big difference. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear in the other post.
I 99% agree. The part that bugs me is the idea that it's a trade-off between selling out and making a living, that somehow we need to split our time and fund the real creation with whatever else.
I might be an incorrigible optimist, but I believe meaningful art and creation can find their audience too. I'm not denying it's hard or claiming I'm there. But in the spirit of resisting the great normization (or is it still normalization?), let's not short-change our dreams.
One of the best moments of my life was when I was leaving my cubicle life behind to swing for the fences at my dream job. I was taking a huge pay cut and getting out of the safe, cushy, predictable world of government work, and in one last attempt to keep me on, the contractor lead of my cubicle life said to me: “I just want you to know I’ve seen people do this before, go and try their dream job, and they fail and come back a year later. I think you’re making a mistake.” Fuck you, dude- it took a lot of work but I made it, and now I make more money than ever and have traveled the world and done things beyond my wildest dreams and have seen more success than most people will ever achieve in a lifetime. That said, now I’ve become comfortable and find my mind wandering into the risk/creation realm once again.
I've always felt creation is superior to consumption as a form of self expression, but this post reminds me that view is incomplete. To consume everything without applying discernment/reflection is to let *your* personal mental filter atrophy.
So maybe normies don't simply have that value backwards, it's that they their values aren't intrinsic or considered at all. 'Just enjoy it!'
I admit, I've enjoyed meaningless but catchy 'piped in aural toxins' for too long myself :) Good one Adam!
This is why I no longer believe in public school. It optimizes for the average.
There’s so much that we humans have to give that it would be such a waste not to use all the talent and express the creativity we have within. Thank you for sharing this!
That first sentence! Guilty as charged of each of those and much more! It hasn't been/isn't easy, but it's easier than not following my own north star.
This is part of what I call the Nihilistic Crisis and the Four Abandonments
Legalized psychedelics would *greatly* help fix this btw, it's one area a therapeutic (that most don't understand and our own authorities don't even term as such) would help nudge the world in a better direction.
This is why psychedelics advocacy is one of my main pillars. The biggest social high leverage intervention I can think of...
And look, usually drugs aren't an answer -but here we are down enough a bad path I think would be a really useful reset for many (of course, not everyone, but we should be free to make that determination)