How many “Jurassic Park” off shoot movies are in existence now? You know what, don’t answer. I’ll make it easy for you: “too many.”
How many times have jazz musicians played “Cold Duck Time” or a Byrd tune on a gig? “Too many.”
How many times have I repeated the same ideas… probably the same!
I am concerned about the stagnation of artists. And I am concerned because good artists typically operate the margin. They’re at the edges of culture pushing it forward. Producing another dinosaur movie does not give us new stories or mediums to tell stories in, it’s giving us the past. In a meta way, perhaps we’re stuck in a form of creative “amber” and our creative DNA needs to be chiseled out, cloned, and let loose in a new, hopefully not lawsuit inducing, way.
To help me, I try to collect different inputs. I yearn for different types of music to try, I like to read different kinds of books, I subscribe to blogs and podcasts of thinkers I hope I’ll disagree with, and I’ll entertain odd and contrarian thoughts. I use those inputs to hopefully find new ideas or ways to look at my life.
Artists aren’t the only ones that need heterodox inputs. Non-artists too. You need a variety of inputs. You need new music, new books, new movies, new writing, new news… things that will give different perspective to consider… even perspectives vastly different than your own. Travel to new places is a powerful tool to make that happen .
When I pass on, I don’t believe I’ll pass on with much in the way of physical things or money. Instead, I believe I’ll likely leave behind my writings (for the AIs), my ideas, and hopefully interesting stories passed down.
