Writing is a single-player game(otherlife.co) |
Writing is a single-player game(otherlife.co) |
The problem with "speaking truth to power" is that the shitbags in power already know the truth (that they're shitbags, and that in a just world they would be torn down and humiliated, if not destroyed). What you do by "speaking truth" is reveal to them that you also know this. By doing so, you make yourself dangerous to them. Sometimes, this is what you want. Sometimes, it is not. It is not an easy, one-size-fits-all decision. Your enemies, but also your friends, start to see you as an instrument of war.
Also, with regard to "algorithmic demons"... it's not "algorithms" that are the problem. It's (a) the complete lack of transparency, (b) that the algorithms are often tailored toward objectives other than content quality (which leads to gaming, hence the perceived need for opacity), and (c) that the data now available about us is invariably used against us by bad actors (and that a lack of influence / platform will also be used against us, so I don't know if there's a way to win).
The algorithms themselves aren't so bad; what's worse is that these companies often slip shit into the algorithms that punishes people or ideas they dislike, and of course (a) this is completely unregulated, (b) it's impossible to prove, and (c) you'll often damage your reputation if you point it out (since you sound identical to a crazy person who failed organically and is lashing out at "the algorithm" with unprovable assertions).
In fact writing is never one person’s game. Otherwise why bother to write. It is also not just about who the author write to. It is the side audience, the chorus in the Greek drama, the reader of the x outside the channel etc.
of course someone has to struggle through it on their own. There is a target audience.
But real life it is never about them.
P.S. chapter 4 of Zhoungzi is about this speaking the power and even strangely it is arguing even if one adopt a zhoungzi position, very post-modern. The speaking truth to power could be just a guy state his position and not changed anything. Just hurt himself. But if the story leaked out it is a different matter. But if one concerns oneself … hence never about one. Not ever one person’s game.
Ever hear of personal diaries or lecture notes? People write to formulate their thoughts, reflect on their lives, record something so they can remember it later, establish a base of ideas on which to build on top of, etc.
It could possibly be argued that at some point what they will interact with others, and they might use the results of those thoughts in the interaction, and therefore indirectly the writing is not single-player, but unless you're a hermit living in the mountains that's just something that has to happen and "single-player" becomes a bit useless as a definition. I might as well start saying single-player board and video games are multi-player then, too, as I might take skills I picked up playing them into the real world.
Like I've got about 300,000 words in a personal diary. Some of them I intend to maybe eventually turn into blog posts, but the vast majority of those words I will most likely keep private until my death (after that point, whatever). But every once in a while I reread some entries, and help remember some details about my life that I have since forgotten. Also there's a bunch of game designs I recorded that I might need to get a reminder of what I was thinking when I double back to them.
But those journals aren't going to build me an audience sitting on my hard drive or physically written on a notebook.
Writing is useful as a way to better articulate your thoughts. When the thoughts are in your head, it's "obvious" that they just "make sense". But when you have to give them structure on a page, putting them into the real world, you may start to see that your ideas weren't so coherent after all.
One could then argue, "But why are you trying to better articulate your thoughts if not to communicate them to others, i.e. an audience?" Which is a valid point, but I think there's value in developing clearer thinking, in terms of living a better, more fulfilling life.
Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void.
I've come to terms that it doesn't matter if it helps people or not. What keeps me writing is all the interesting thoughts and ideas I want to share. It's a way to express what's inside of me to the few people that want to listen.
If you can make writing so engaging to you to where you want to play it like a video game, you've cracked the code to being a writer.
If one day some AI supersedes humans and produces the most perfect writing on the planet, humans will not stop writing. Because writing is not about achieving perfection, but about feeling heard, eventually.
This problem already exists in the bottom reaches of the self-publishing ecosystem--the AI-generated scammy "books" don't sell very well, but they take no effort to create--which could lead to a resurgence of traditional publishing's flagging prestige, but that would be short-lived, because New York publishing is probably no more than 10 years from getting Sokal'd in a high-profile way.
I don't find thoughts like the ones in the post very helpful. Once I start thinking about instead of just doing, I've already lost. The only thing that helps me is remembering not giving up in the past, which feels like yoko ono's ladder to yes.
There's a point where it's just... what you do. Where it's become a major part of your life and you get to regularly remind yourself that even when it gets kind of tedious, you're still paying your bills by doing this thing you essentially love doing. And then you get to figure out how to make it more exciting: bigger challenges? new approaches? working with other people to make something bigger than you can make yourself? or just shrugging and accepting that this has become Work instead of Play, and enjoying being able to do solid work in a tenth of the time it once took, and enjoy more leisure time to do other things you enjoy?
I mean, what the fuck else am I gonna do? Get a day job at the bottom of some other career ladder?
With evolving documents like wikipedia and Conflict-free Replicated Data Type (CRDTs) coming into favor, it feels like writing could be a cooperative and multi-player game. Most of the meetings I go to have an EtherPad open for all the participants to collaboratively take notes during the discussion. I'd assume that collaborative editing of documents will become more of the norm.
Like exercising, perhaps one could show up and write in a shared document so as not to let your fellow writer's down.
Submarine is when you launder your ad through some putatively neutral platform, Justin runs otherlife, there's no mystery here.
Yeah, I got curious about that, and googled for the word. "Enroll, One-Time, $550", it said. Right :-)
(Disclosure: this is my thing)
"Oh, but what if it actually affects me?". If it starts affecting you, then you fix it.
You don't care what a random person on the street/road thinks of you, right? Even though they can realistically punch/stab/yell/crash their car into you at any time.
If you become famous then someone will do (c) for you at some point (maybe after you are gone).
I contend that the best writing and the easiest commitment to regular writing is to write for yourself. Always.
https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7018310124947147...
Expanded version of this thinking: https://one.mikro2nd.net/posts/why-no-web-analytics-are-to-b...
You can write for yourself, but if you publish it on a publicly available site, you clearly want it to be read by others.
Just getting some of your thoughts down in writing is a first step, like a diary or journal. Maybe a few of those thoughts should be public soon, or maybe not. But getting them down helps your thinking and is useful.
Writing is not a public good by default, but merely a physical manifestation of thought, and thus private.
There absolutely is someone who exists that would weaponize some of my posts against me. That's why it's private and will remain so, except for my son's eyes when he is older.