Immutable Happiness
What happens when something remarkable becomes abundant? When our favorite restaurant or coffee house becomes a chain, or a new social product becomes ubiquitous, we tend to crave something new...something more scarce. Why? It’s a natural desire to immerse ourselves in stories that move us and express identity through uniqueness. When something see... See more
Scott Belsky • The New Stack of Entertainment, Tensions of the AI Age, & Navigating Cambrian Explosions
Another way of putting it is like this: a sunset is sublime because a human cannot make one, its existence transcends human ability; meanwhile, a picture of a sunset is merely beautiful because it reflects, through human invention, a thing that no amount of human ingenuity can actually replicate in real life. What’s more, a sunset is sublime becaus... See more
I’m betting on people. I’m betting that people will refuse to abandon their souls to the machine, and refuse to forget who they truly are. People just need, in Plato’s words, anamimneskein —”to be reminded.” And that’s a process that is best done in genuine encounters.
Vibes Are Not Enough
As anything scales too effectively - from fashion to restaurants to music - the market opens for more non-scalable alternatives. Once Starbucks opens on every block, many of us crave the artisanal coffee shop. Once our favorite Italian restaurant becomes a chain of three, we grow tired of it. Why? First, so much of what we buy and do is tied up in ... See more