Outrageous guitarist Pete Peterson sent me a 2024 talk by Jack Conte, founder of Patreon. It’s called The Death of the Follower.
Jack said:
“…Instead of thinking, ‘what do I want to make what lights me up? What is the output that I want to create as an artist? What will my fans love?’ Instead of thinking those questions, now, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, ‘what will the ranking algorithm favor?’ And that subconsciously or consciously changes my creative output to achieve Facebook’s goals — not my goals.”
Goals. I’ll come back to that.
I’ve dabbled in listening to Tim Ferriss. He’s achieved a lot, yes?
I wonder, at this point, why does he keep going? More specifically, why is he still such a marketing machine?
For instance, Tim’s blog doesn’t lead with value. Instead, it’s an above-the-fold, full-screen email capture and a huge photo of himself. And if you don’t type in your email fast enough, you get a pop-up ad for his eBook.
I don’t know the state of Tim’s finances. Does he need more money? At what point will he have enough that he can stop the aggressive selling?
In contrast, Seth Godin’s blog is his latest blog post. Nothing to click on, no need to scroll. He leads with value. (There are books to buy, things to sign up for, but they’re severely non-intrusive.)
This is not to demonize Tim. But it’s obvious that Tim has a different goal from Seth.*
But what goal? Why do anything? Especially anything creative?
We all know that artificial intelligence will wipe out a lot of creative jobs.
We’re about to find ourselves in a “Post-Content World™” where the amount of songs to hear, words to read, and videos to watch is infinite. The supply is about to faaaaaaaaar outpace the demand — as if it didn’t already.
At that point, because there is an endless supply, most media will have virtually zero value.
Soon, much of it will be dynamic, generated on the fly, in the same way ChatGPT’s replies are. Static media might become the exception, especially with a TV series. Imagine if Game of Thrones or Twin Peaks could go on forever, as AI instantly generates and streams thousands of episodes for us, including any plot or character suggestions we have. Is that about to happen?
But if AI can create so much better than a human, why bother? Why be a filmmaker? Or any type of creator?
In the next year, I will probably be able to tell my computer to shit out a new Carl King album, with Travis Orbin’s drumming, and any other specifications I want. Most importantly, I’ll never struggle to change the strings on my Floyd Rose again.
Which brings us back to “Why Are We Doing This?”
A possible solution: we can decouple process and result.†
Road cyclists still ride a century (100 miles), even though a car could get them to the finish line faster. But it’s the human challenge and the personal experience. The process, not the result.
Ultimately, when the novelty of “wow, a computer can do this” wears off, human-centric art will always be more interesting to humans. Knowing that something was created with the limitations of a human brain and body is going to be especially meaningful.
A human doing something impressive directly in front of you (I mean in the real world with no computers involved) will become far more valuable — to some.
Now, to answer my own question.
As I near 50 years old (in August), I’m worn out by the game of chasing a creative career — especially in Los Angeles. I’ve done well, so there’s no desperate need to run on the ambition-ego treadmill. I don’t need to please the algorithm to make my posts visible, blast visitors to my site with full-screen calls to action, or network with so-and-so who might introduce me to so-and-so in order to get IMDB credits and parentheses after my name. (Maybe it would be more noble if I had something to lose.)
I could easily tell a robot to generate 1,000,000 blog posts for me today, but it wouldn’t replace my experience of thinking and writing.
Or maybe someday it will…
Until then, I’ll go on creating, driven by my own curiosity. And I think my blog, Patreon, and my email list are good systems for delivering B.S. to my few supporters.
Now for a coffee break and more writing…
-Carl.
*As a writer myself, I’ve struggled with this. Do I want a lot more readers? Should I be more like Tim, or more like Seth? (Probably more like Seth.)
†I’m not suggesting one is superior to the other, as in the clichés “it’s about the journey, not the destination” and “follow your passion and everything will work out.”