I used to be able to like music, buy a disc. Like a movie, buy a disc or rent at a reasonable price. Like a game, buy a disc. Play it play it play it. Now it’s all rental in the name of community and I no longer listen to exactly what I want, I no longer watch what I want to watch, I no longer play good games. Every rental seems reasonable but pile them up and I can’t even do basic things. Entertainment has blasted into the stratosphere in terms of expense.
I’m making up my own songs. Drawing more. Listening to audio books. I loved ratchet and clank et al before they all got a ridiculous mountain of muscles. Anything good for the commons is eventually stolen in the name of commerce.
With the first iMac there was a dinosaur game involving eggs. There was also a game where the ocean rolled in a wave and left shells and the gamer had to spot correct shells. I loved loved loved that game.
Now I am back to the early days of my life where I have low access to what I choose to use as entertainment. So I’m all you tube and listening to lectures.
Do you relate to my excessive rant, and if so share your own experience and what that is like. (Sorry so wordy)
I myself could rant all day and all of the night on the death of creativity. It isn't about quality or originality or individual expression. It's about monetization and manipulation and co-opting ideas to quickly make money before the next distraction arrives.
I am not a Luddite but I see technology, and particularly a.i., as a drive to strip away our humanity. Everyone can create but not everything is creative. If you are creative you still need to work at it. As uneven and often unfair as the "industries" of music, writing, art, and so on, have been in the past, it at least insured that you had to have a modicum of talent. As soon as you remove the filter preventing wider access to an audience, you dilute the audience. It's why a.i. generated ANYTHING is accepted. It isn't creation, it's mimicry. People will accept pitch corrected vocals? Great. I don't have to be a good singer or work on my craft. People will buy blatant rip-offs of games/movies/music? Awesome. Tell me what's trending I'll get a poor imitation out there and someone will buy it!
Everyone is unique. Unique does not mean special. The more the bar is lowered, the greater the dilution of actual art. It's creating an audience that accepts distraction over quality. You don't need to produce physical copies, just temporary digital copies because nobody will remember or care about it in six months.
The internet has created a deluge that can drown talent. Wanting to do something doesn't mean you can actually do it. I love music. When I was a kid I loved to sing along with the radio. I can't create music. That's beyond me. I deeply respect and appreciate musicians, but my mind doesn't know HOW people come up with these songs. So thrn be a singer, and well...then I heard Paul Rodgers and I realized that yes, talent was necessary. I accepted that this was something that I didn't have the tools for. I moved on.
I know that I myself am a better writer than 75% of the actually published authors out there. I just never got that break and never managed to get an agent or publisher to look at me. Fine. That's okay. Being better doesn't mean that being successful, respected, and well liked would be inevitable if I got that "break". I didn't write because I wanted to be rich and famous. I wrote because the characters told me their stories. I write here on Tumblr and am fine with getting two hearts. I don't self publish or put out e-books on Amazon because fuck Amazon and I'm not going to delude myself by thinking that having an e-book, lost in a million titles, would accomplish anything. At this point recognition means nothing. I'd rather have two devoted readers and enjoy the act of writing.
You're right. Everything is a rental, everything is momentary. When creativity isn't driven by creation but the need to be noticed, it's vacuous. Latching on to things to simply be part of a community is the opposite of declaring or constructing your individuality. Especially when, no matter how much you love something, you only have access to what you buy for as long as it's licensed or available on the current format of technology.
