The Relentless Road to Progress Part II
Re-shaping Our Shared Values to Survive the Future
Welcome back to part II of this series. Last time, I went in-depth about the underlying point that the anti-AI crowd is making, whether they’re aware of it or not: If our environment is always in flux then our shared values should also be. This “Exponential Age” and the technology it’s fostering are changing everything around us, and very quickly, for that matter. So if we’re not thinking deeply about the underlying principles we commonly use to guide our decisions and figure out how to adapt them to this changing world, we’ll continue making bad choices that could one day lead to ruin.
So what kind of shared values could we modify or adopt right now to help us build a better future? Well, no surprise, I don’t have a clear answer. Nobody does because we’re still in the process of figuring it out. But some proposals are floating about in the intellectual circles that can provide a very interesting bedrock to build off of. And what’s interesting is that all of these principles that I’m about to lay out are so easy and obvious, but in this complicated World, they’re easy to overlook.
1. Openness
Given how much misinformation and disinformation is out there, this sounds counter-intuitive. Indeed, with advances in AI this will become a bigger issue, which means, yes, we absolutely should have a healthy level of skepticism and know how to evaluate the quality of the information we’re getting. But that also shouldn’t stop us from being open and curious about new ideas, even the ones that seem absurd and fundamentally wrong.
I know. Cognitive dissonance is painful. But, it’s necessary for upgrading the models we use to understand the World. If we don’t engage in this, we end up with a limited perspective, and with a narrow set of views comes limited solutions to problems. This has been proven many times throughout history.
For instance, when the written word was invented around the 6th Century B.C.E. many were against it, arguing that words would lead humanity to forget everything, for if everyone was always writing things down, they would never be able to retain anything. But it turned into one of the greatest inventions ever created. When the stethoscope came around, most doctors brushed it off as an unreliable voodoo device that had no place in the medical field. Now, it’s one of the most essential tools that all doctors use.
When p2p downloading and streaming became a thing, studios, and cable providers went on lawsuit rampages to stop it, except for a few notable companies like Netflix and YouTube. Today, everyone in the business is still trying to catch up to their profits. If everyone acted like the average Reddit mod and closed themselves off to any new or uncomfortable idea, we’d never have anything great.
It does seem like we have a system that actively tries to categorize us into specialized areas, which leads many to, “stay in their lanes”. But suppose you only explore that one thing in your life, even if you become an expert at it. In that case, you’ll never be as innovative or amazing as the person who becomes an expert and immerses themselves in many other things. Learning about many seemingly unrelated topics will help induce lateral thinking so that you can better connect those unrelated ideas in a way that can relate them together.
This process births newer and greater solutions that no one has thought of, such as quantum computing. That would have been impossible to invent unless someone out there had studied computers and quantum theory. That’s exactly what had happened with David Deutsch who was the first to develop an algorithm for the field, kickstarting the Quantum Computing Revolution.
In 2024 we’re practically beholden to the algorithms that curate information based on our interests. That means if we’re always watching and listening to what we want, we’ll inadvertently close ourselves off to new ideas that could radically alter how we see the World, for better and for worse.
So in this ever-changing environment that we find ourselves in, it’s probably important for us to actively search for new things in areas that may be off-putting to us. We should dispel that nasty habit of discounting things too quickly and avoid cementing ourselves into one way of thinking. Just because we learn something profound doesn’t make that the end all be all to everything. It’s merely a sliver of truth in the multi-faceted structure of reality. Failure to recognize this will likely lead to self-indoctrination.
Of course, exploring new ideas is inherently risky just as it is to pioneer across new landscapes. But it's crucial that we accept this risk and boldly dive into the new because not doing so will 100 percent lead us to the same fate as the Wildly Coyote…We’ll fall off the cliff. Openness and curiosity will help us find safer and more positive outcomes because we’re discovering paths that can lead us to better results. However, closing ourselves off? That could spell trouble in the long run.
2. An Appreciation and Love For Everything
We’re completely inundated with…Everything. And things are moving way too fast, it seems. Some have claimed that the moment we started measuring time is when our lives began to fall apart. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but our lives are, in many ways, dictated by time. I mean, if you stop to think about it, our days are broken down by a set allotment of moments that we dedicate to one thing before moving on to the next. This conveniently makes it easier to cram more stuff into our daily routines that demands our attention.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us are kinda burnt out and find it hard to focus on anything for long periods. But more than losing focus, I think this is causing us to lose sight of everything around us that we should not only be grateful for but also in awe of. I’m not talking about the big things. Those are hard to ignore like when your parents bail you out of jail and embrace you with a hug instead of kicking your ass or when you’re at the top of a scenic mountain watching a beautiful sunset. But what about the everyday things like when your co-worker shows up and does their job or when you turn on a desk lamp to see what you’re doing?
Those ordinary things are extraordinary when you consider how most of the universe will exist in total darkness throughout its entire span. But most of us never think about this because, again, we’re too inundated with everything we’re creating and consuming, which leads us to take everything we have for granted. And now it’s so bad that we’re projected to lose over 3 billion people in the next decade due to famine, wars, and diseases.
So no matter where we end up going into the future, It would be wise for us to take moments out of our day-to-day lives and listen to what Mr. Rogers was preaching throughout his career. Be grateful for what you have, don’t dwell on what you lack, and be in awe of everything so that you can compel yourself to honor and put effort into protecting everything that makes living great. It’s hard to get yourself to do anything when you don’t love anything, including yourself. But if you choose love, you’re giving yourself a compelling reason to protect and progress life forward through shared consensus rather than by force.
3. Use The Creative Process to Self-Actualize Meaning and Purpose
No, this doesn’t mean everyone should aspire to be a famous filmmaker or the next Picasso. Money and fame have nothing to do with it. That’s what a job is for. Unfortunately, not everyone can land or create their dream career. Most of us have to resort to something that pays the bills, which is fine for getting a roof under your head and food in your belly…But then what?
Well, maybe you have a family and lots of friends. Perhaps you’re always going out on adventures and doing cool stuff when you’re not at the 9-5 drudge. That’s great you have a work-life balance with plenty of time for friends and family. And it’s awesome that you have all of these fun experiences. But whether you’re a socialite or a lonely couch potato, there’s something you might be missing and you just might feel it but don’t know how to describe it.
That could very well be your desire to self-actualize since maybe you’re not carving any time out of your day-to-day to discover something intrinsic that you can externalize for others to give feedback (aka creating). Most jobs don’t provide people with this opportunity, and if we’re always just “hanging out” after work and not making something from our ideas, then it becomes harder to understand everything about ourselves. See, creating is much more than just an enjoyable experience. It’s a process that helps us better understand how we think about the World, why we think about the World the way that we do, and how these relate to things that drive us, scare us, excite us, and so on.
I’m not advocating that people go “Whiplash” on their lives to move the Earth. Again, it’s not about achieving fame or money. It’s about synching up with your sense of self, which can strengthen everything about you. That’s why I think it’s important for all of us to find a little bit of time to search for something cool that we can build for ourselves and collaborate with others who like to do the same. For me, it’s writing and filmmaking, but it can be anything, big or small, as long as it’s creative and can be critiqued.
One reason so many of us are doing well while also feeling empty could be because not enough of us are working those dream jobs, creating things. It’s perfectly fine if you’re not. But if you’re also depriving yourself of any outlet to create then you’re making it harder to maximize personal fulfillment in your life. Leisure activities are great for relaxing and letting loose, but there’s a time and place for those things. Sometimes it’s good to drop everything and escape into something creative.
This balance is important to consider as AI makes it easier to create things because if we make it too easy, we’ll destroy the creative process, which is fundamental to our well-being and self-worth. If more people engage in creating things, more people will recognize this point, which will help us shape the AI industry in a way that enhances our ability to self-actualize through the creative process rather than hampering it. Otherwise, we may dampen or destroy that vital part of our lives.
4. Beware of The Jackals
Compared to our ancestors, we’re being influenced and manipulated a thousand-fold, which is probably why everything feels so crazy. With the invention of the internet, social media, and now AI, it’s never been easier for companies, governments, nefarious non-state actors, or something in between to shape our behaviors, thoughts about the World, and emotions that drive our actions. And as we continue to advance, this will only get worse. So, it’s probably a good idea for everyone to brush up a little on how our minds work from a behavioral psychological standpoint.
Yes, I know it’s not the most interesting topic for many, but it is important. Without this basic knowledge, you could easily fall prey to manipulation. Sean Webb’s concept of Emotional Intelligence is a perfect example of how this could unfold with AI. I’ve discussed him in a previous blog if you’re interested in learning more, but here’s the skinny.
You have preferences, such as writing or voting a certain way, and expectations about those preferences. You’ll feel happy if your expectations meet or exceed what you believe/want the outcome to be. But if the outcome doesn’t meet those expectations, then you’ll feel upset. And the more you attach your identity to those preferences the more upset or happy you’ll feel depending on the preference outcome. However, you'll feel neither happy nor sad if you don’t set any expectations for your preferences.
This is pretty important to understand, as basic as this may be, since we’re rolling out technology that will be able to know everything about you, including your preferences and how much you identify with them. And, if we have that data and implement a formula like Sean Webb’s, then AI will understand this. And that means others will have better control over our emotions, including how we feel and think about the World.
Don’t believe me? Well, just copy and paste this prompt into an AI model and have a conversation with it. You’ll see what I mean, though content filtering will water down the emotional response. I would use Claude for this.
These models are crude. But future ones will certainly have this information and be utilized to take advantage of people. So, yes, AI will radically impact our emotional behaviors…if we let it happen, of course.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s good to be attached to things that really matter to you. But it’s also important to be aware of how much you’re attaching yourself to things that aren’t nearly as important as you think they are. As the World grows more sophisticated you’ll find yourself increasingly more frustrated, and a large part of that will be because third parties are trying to influence you for whatever purpose, whether it’s buying a brand of clothing or voting a certain way.
As I mentioned before, we can’t stop this progression because it’s already too late. So the only way to move forward without losing control over our minds is if the average person learns how people can be persuaded and even outright manipulated.
For instance, shame is the biggest driver of violence, which is why a lot of people who land in prison come from bad environments that lack pride. Their sense of worth is unprotected, which makes frivolous affronts to their egos huge ordeals. And when the right person is plagued by too much shame, they may get violent, in some cases, extremely.
Now, imagine a future world where someone could swarm your feeds with advanced NLP bots and constantly berate every post you make. Perhaps some could even befriend you and become close confidants who are secretly programmed to reinforce your sense of shame as well as how you feel about yourself and the rest of the World. They could do this by implementing subtle tactics so you believe that what the bots are saying is true.
We already have enough school shooters as it is, but imagine some adversarial nation doing this to individuals en masse, all selected based on sensitivity levels to shame. Engineering mass murders as a new dimension to psyops…Yeah, that’s a scary thought but it could, in theory, become real, maybe in our lifetimes.
There are a million different ways this could all go south. So absolutely, I believe that we should have some basic education in behavioral psychology implemented in every high school, and every adult should start looking into the subject and educating themselves. Those who don’t, I fear, will lose control over their minds, as crazy as that sounds.
5. Embrace the Struggle Over the Convenience
Another thing we could be doing to ensure that our collective future looks brighter is to embrace the day-to-day struggles in our lives. That doesn’t mean we should be torturing ourselves by always doing everything the hard way. No, that’s stupid. Our modern comforts are a blessing and a curse, not just a curse. It’s a blessing because we live longer and do much more than before, which is fantastic. But, it’s also a huge curse because if everything is too easy, then we get easy access to dopamine, which can lead us to seek more instant gratification over gratification earned from the effort. That doesn’t sound like a huge deal, but it actually can be.
Some of you reading this might have played the old Pokemon Red/Blue version on the Gameboy during the late 90s. If not, then I’m sure you know, more or less, what it’s about. You play this kid who, for whatever reason, is allowed to venture out alone on far-away adventures that are dangerous, catching, cataloging, and forcing these animal creatures called Pokemon to fight other player’s Pokemon for street cred. It’s like dog fighting, but not...Okay, yeah maybe the premise is a little messed up…But, at least they were cute!
So in the game, you have to level up your Pokemon by having them constantly fight. But there’s this item called a rare candy that you can feed them, which will automatically raise their level by a factor of 1. There’s also this cheat you can do to get an infinite number of rare candies, which means you can feed your Pokemon a bunch of candies to max their power levels out very quickly.
Doing that can make you invincible to all the NPC characters. But if you went up against another player who spent the time painstakingly training their Pokemon in fight after fight, you’re almost guaranteed to lose. The cheat was nice, but the work paid off in the end. This is why the path of least resistance isn’t always the greatest.
For instance, eating. It’s not only fantastic but necessary. It wasn’t long ago when we had to work very hard to get food, which is what prevented us from over-indulging. But now, you can go out and buy just about anything you want. More so, you can get massive levels of sugar and salt that your body naturally craves because companies are adding way more than is necessary to get you addicted.
Today, we may be able to live longer with our own “rare candy cheat”, but we also have a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes because we’re eating too much junk food.
Combined with the convenient sedentary lifestyles, this is leading to a massive health crisis. See, it’s the nature of it being so easy and satisfying all at once that can make something that sounds very positive on the surface have serious negative consequences. So just like the rare candy cheat in Pokemon, on paper, we look like we’re doing well, but in reality, we’re not looking so hot.
Of course, I’m not advocating that we starve ourselves. Nor am I advocating that we get rid of all conveniences. But maybe, if we’re going to live in this cushioned world, we should recognize the importance of that struggle we all used to have to endure when it came to obtaining the things we desire and figure out how to retain a healthy amount of it so that we’re not dying of other issues.
It’s great to be able to get on a Zoom call and collaborate with business partners or to be able to travel thousands of miles in a day and not have to worry about getting murdered. But if we keep blindly accepting every ounce of convenience presented to us, then it’s very possible we’ll pamper ourselves out of existence. So next time you take the path of least resistance, ask yourself what the opportunity-cost decision is. If the cost is greater than the short-term opportunity, then it may be wise to take the harder path.
6. Carve Out Time for Contemplation
It’s simple and sounds like a waste of time, but it’s actually very important. Before the Internet and all the crazy gizmos we have right now life moved much more slowly. Just talk to some of the older folks and they’ll tell you all about the times they spent doing nothing because, unlike today, we didn’t have devices that constantly kept us occupied.
When you did things like sit in a waiting room or drive home from work, you might have listened to the radio, or perhaps you could have read a book or a magazine. But you certainly weren’t scrolling through endless content. You weren’t listening to heady podcast after heady podcast. You were in the moment with nothing but your thoughts and maybe someone to talk to.
Today, these moments are lost to most of us, which could be problematic given that the best way to internalize new information is to “chew” on the idea for a while. In other words, instead of just gaining some new insight and moving on to the next, you’re taking the time to fully mull over the idea, which can significantly help you refine and integrate it more effectively into your daily life.
Most of us do the opposite by constantly scrolling through podcasts, articles, and other content. Sure, we’re technically being “informed”. But if we’re also not processing and thinking about that information then we’re not integrating it effectively into our mental models. We’re just hearing, watching, or reading before moving on.
So moving forward, as we drown in more digital content, it might be a great idea to start practicing some restraint. Sometimes, we should be left with nothing but our thoughts to ruminate during certain parts of our day. Perhaps next time you drive to work or take a shower, instead of turning on your favorite podcast, take that time to reflect on the things you learned.
7. Pursue Creative Efforts With Others
The idea that everyone will be sitting behind their computers creating solo AI movies is particularly unsettling. When my brother and I started getting into film, we didn’t know anyone in our area. This continued for several years before we decided to join a film club and network with people like us. And let me tell you. It was night and day. Suddenly more opportunities, resources, and knowledge started coming our way. And then there was the camaraderie that came from the experience of moving the Earth to make something look good on screen.
We found a tribe in the wilderness, bonded by the passion for the craft. And from those moments, we were able to grow into better filmmakers because we were coming together and sharing our ideas and experiences.
AI may one day be able to mimic collaboration with a person so well that it becomes indistinguishable from the real thing. But that’s certainly not happening for a very long time. And well before that, we’ll be able to develop full-length generative AI movies that are as good as Hollywood, though even this is further out than most imagine. But still. Whenever this happens, it’s not hard to imagine how entire generations will stop showing up to set and collaborating with others.
And given how fruitful the experience of in-person collaboration is for me, this is concerning as I often wonder if the absence of that will stifle creativity. We know that extreme isolation is bad for the mind, but is extreme isolation during the entire creation process for a film also bad?
Sure, people have the internet providing all the information they could want. And yeah, you can collaborate with others online. Plus, people have friends outside of creative circles with whom they can share their work for feedback. But all of that’s completely different from creative interactions with others in person who have similar or complementary skills. What’s the difference? Well, several things.
First, there’s the speed at which you can master the skills that will get you where you want to be, faster. The Internet can provide an exuberant amount of information, but it can take forever to find the most relevant stuff. It’s so much faster to collaborate and learn from each other’s mistakes. What could take months or years to fully understand can easily be learned and internalized on a few shoots.
Second, there’s the difference between online and real-world interaction. While yes, you can and often will collaborate with your peers online at some point in the production process, it’s still vastly better for communication when meeting someone in a real environment. What we say is spoken, not just with words, but also with gestures/facial expressions, and overall “vibe”. So in a real-world environment, you’re able to pick up on everything someone is trying to say rather than a part of it.
Third, there’s the problem of getting helpful feedback. If you’re only engaging with close friends and family then most of the advice will be severely limited. It’s much better to gain wisdom from experienced writers and filmmakers who know what they’re doing. And even if they don’t know what they’re doing, it’s still far superior to collaborate with them because they’re trying to solve the same issues you’re trying to solve. Your friends and family, on the other hand, just want to provide helpful advice, which probably won’t even be helpful.
Fourth, if you isolate yourself too much from the physical World, you’ll have a harder time networking. You can connect with strangers online, and that can certainly be helpful. But relationships are 1000 times stronger when you’re interacting and helping someone in the real world. So this means your chances of landing a real connection are much greater if you’re meeting that person on set or somewhere outside the internet.
Fifth and most importantly, real-world collaboration fosters a sense of belonging that can help give rise to meaning in one’s life. We thrive off of each other’s energy, and that’s because, whether we want to believe it or not, we’re a part of the same “whole”, which means that our actions impact each other, good and bad.
But if we further divorce ourselves from each other’s company, we’ll lose those transformative effects from each other’s presence, for better and for worse. So if you’re struggling to write or make films and you haven’t done this, do yourself a favor. Go out and find other people like yourself and make good films! Best-case scenario, you become a professional and do what you love. Worst case, you learn a lot and make long-lasting friendships that money can’t buy.
And this brings me to the final thought we may want to consider as we progress further into this alien future.
8. Weaponize Your Career For Good
Let’s say someone gets a Harvard degree in finance and is given two options. Option 1, they can work at this fancy company on Wall Street that’ll easily sling them into the multi-millionaire class. Option 2, they can work at this modest company that pays 150k a year to help solve a really important problem impacting millions of lives. Which one do you think this person will choose? Now, it’s true that some might want to take the more righteous path of option 2, but more often than not, people in this position will take the first job. I mean…Wouldn’t you?
There’s more safety and stability, plus you can retire far sooner and do whatever you want. It’s the path of least resistance. But here’s the thing. If everyone thinks this way, we end up with a system where people and companies that hold the most money can influence the strengths and weaknesses of our market sectors. In other words, the richest people can get talent to move into the industries and companies they care about most, not the industries or companies individuals care about.
For instance, have you ever noticed that brick-and-mortar giants have terrible apps? There’s a reason for that. It’s because, unlike a company such as Google, technology is a secondary feature of their customer experience, which means they’re not going to invest as much in app development. And that means they’re probably paying their developers less, which ultimately leads to poorer quality. Indeed, this appears to be the case. Retail developers typically make around 100k a year compared to Google developers who earn an average of 130k.
That’s a fairly big difference, so it makes perfect sense that better developers would gravitate to higher-paying jobs. But at the same time, it doesn’t make any sense at all when you stop to consider the net result of everyone being primarily motivated by money. In this specific example, the problem leads to superior search engines that can help us find anything and horrible software at retail stores, making our daily experiences a recurring headache.
Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, of course. But in a macro context, this and many other examples, indicate that more talent is being driven into giants across industries for money instead of personal meaning and making the World a better place. Most of the time, this isn’t a huge issue, if it’s even an issue at all. But sometimes, it can lead to horrible companies doing massively horrible things and remaining unscathed from their actions. After all, if everyone is motivated too much by money, then these companies can simply use their wealth to cover up their major mistakes since they can buy everyone off.
That’s why BP Oil still has some of the best engineers even though they caused one of the largest spills in history due to unsafe business practices. That’s also why the major Hollywood studios are still able to attract millions of talented people every year even though it’s a known fact that a lot of these companies are screwing them over. It’s why major cattle farms can get away with feeding their animals donated food that was ground up with the plastic packaging still on them, adding tremendous amounts of toxic chemicals into our meat. And It’s why so many amazingly talented people who are good, at heart, end up squandering their gifts by working day and night for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Dupont, or Boeing even though it’s clear as day that they don’t care if any of their cost-cutting tactics end up significantly harming people and our environment.
We constantly complain about the problems we’re surrounded by, which isn’t bad as it’s always good to identify issues that need to be resolved. But as an average person, we never follow through on any concrete actions to fix these things. And of course, we don’t! I mean, how the hell do you expect any of us to solve them? That’s like expecting someone to move a mountain.
The thing is, though, we actually CAN fix or, at least, significantly reduce these problems, both as individuals and as industry leaders. How? We need to form a new consensus regarding career choices and how we run businesses by re-framing the way we see these industry-wide externalities and how they’re inextricably related to our individual choices in what we want to work on. And these career choices are based on the underlying incentives we choose to value over others. To put it simply, we need to emphasize personal value, meaning, and making society a better place over individual earning and safety.
This can be done because it’s already been proven to work. Take cigarettes or driving under the influence, for example. More people used to do these things until we decided they were bad. So we spent an exuberant amount of time, energy, and yes, even money, to reduce these issues.
And a lot of that was accomplished by helping future generations grasp a better understanding of the grave implications these things can have on us, individually and collectively. The same thing happened with littering. Yes, all of these things are still an issue, but they’re not nearly as big of a problem as they used to be, and that’s because we were able to change our perspectives around them.
Most of us want better societies, which is why we typically drive around the speed limit, why we recycle, and why so many voice concerns about all the issues we’re facing. But most of us aren’t recognizing just how much our motivations and beliefs are contributing to this mess. And if we did, then we’d see just how much power and control we have over all of this.
If more people were motivated to work for companies that value positive impacts on the World instead of companies that just want to maximize their returns for shareholders, then those shitty companies would end up with talent shortages, which would force them to change their incentives so that they’re not causing as much damage as they are, today.
So for those in a privileged enough position, you may want to think about shifting your career choices to actualize positive change by choosing to take the harder route. Be picky about the company you’re interested in working for, and dig deep into what they’re doing. Don’t just go for the one that’s paying you the most, even if it’s a significant difference. Go for the one that can give you fair compensation while also providing you with an opportunity to do good things for the customers and the staff that are serving them.
Treat the choices you make with your career the same way you treat choosing to drive sober or drunk. Yes, technically, you, as an individual, may be able to drive drunk and make it home in one piece…But if everyone is driving drunk, then the number of accidents and deaths on the road will dramatically increase, leading to a major problem that affects everyone.
That’s the “Law of Averages” for you, which most certainly applies to career choices motivated by material gain. If everyone’s striving for that instead of things that matter to them in a way that can lead to positive impacts on society, then you end up with this neo-feudalistic system built under the guise of Democracy and Capitalism.
Don’t be mistaken by this message. I’m not advocating that people choose to stop making money. Capitalism is a pretty solid system…But it’s only as good as the society that uses it, which means we need to fix ourselves if we want to fix these problems.
And, of course, not everyone can afford to make this change in mindset. That’s okay. Life happens and a lot of us can’t be choosy about what we decide to do. But when it comes to very smart and talented people who can do a tremendous amount for themselves and this World, they probably should change their outlook on career choices and the companies that they want to work for. If enough of us don’t do this, then we may not see the future we want to realize.
Conclusion
I know all of this sounds idealistic and not all that important compared to everything else surrounding the AI debates. But suppose we don’t consider the implicit values that we currently live by and how they shape the problems we’re experiencing. In that case, it becomes more likely that we’ll blindly walk ourselves into a dark future even if we overcome the most important obstacles.
Now has never been more important for each of us to dwell on what we should be changing about our values so that we can begin to make our lives and those around us healthier, happier, and more meaningful. And this is regardless of AI because, at the end of the day, if it isn’t AI then it will be some other new technology that we’ll integrate into our lives without any consideration of the unintended consequences. We’ve passed the threshold and are now in a World that is far too complex not to make these considerations.
So live with openness, appreciate and love as much as you can, maintain engagement in the creative process, be weary of manipulators, embrace the struggle over convenience, carve out time for contemplation, pursue creative efforts with others, and weaponize your career choices to shape the World that you want to see…Or, don’t.
Better yet, come up with your own list of values we should think about adopting and share it with others. Start a discussion about these things because that’s how we can derive a genuine consensus on whatever new baseline principles we collectively choose to adopt. Right now, things are very fractionalized, and that’s okay. But if we don’t at least have a bedrock to unify all of our differences so that we can co-exist and still be who we want to be and think what we want to think…Well, then…We’ll reap what we sow.
Thank you for reading and as always, best of luck in your creative endeavors!
Story Prism
___________________________________