I liken this post to how we tend to browse online: following hyperlinks, letting algorithms guide us through strange and nonlinear terrain. We may start with a Youtube video on gardening and end up at ancient aliens. This post therefore mirrors the chaotic, associative nature of modern life. Even if some critics would call the post rambling or unfocused, I’d like to establish this as  a “process-based post”—an adventure, not a “polished product.” In any case, maybe this form of storytelling is better suited to the hyperlink age.

I wonder, though, if generative AI is simply accelerating a direction we were already moving toward—with or without it. On one end of the spectrum, you get the weird-for-weird’s-sake impulse: creators pushing into ever stranger territory in an effort to stand out as truly original. But then… what is that originality grounded in? It starts to feel like empty calories—novelty without nourishment.

On the other end, creativity keeps looping back on itself, feeding into algorithms, refining past formulas, and gradually becoming a murky, mostly homogenous stew of predictability.

I think it’s because we’re a very product based culture and we’re a bit obsessed with ownership.

“This is my idea. I own it. I was here first.”

How’s that different than “This is my land. I’ve discovered it. Here is where I plant my flag?”

A product-based mindset can only see the results. Grants awarded. Creative works completed. Product’s market success.

To be fair, as creatives, we need to make money. It would be great if we all had our personal wealthy patrons who offered us complete freedom to explore the far reaches of the imaginative universe - wherever our minds took us.