Point of Know Return
Writer’s block.
A maddening, excruciatingly painful disease.
Stops many aspiring poets, screenwriters, lyricists, novelists or any other form of would-be artist dead in their tracks. Utterly exhausted and paralyzed by the torturous agony of procrastination and self-doubt.
But, thanks to the sudden advent of new technology, you too can apply a miracle cure to that lethal condition. Put down your pen, pencil or paintbrush. Why not let a machine do your thinking and creating for you?
Within mere moments you too can become the equivalent to every real artist from Van Gogh to Van Halen! You can instantly paint like Picasso, compose like Page & Plant or write elegant prose like a latter-day Poe or modern-day Pressfield!
As a reader, you have no way of knowing for certain whether those initial paragraphs were written from the heart, soul and imagination of a real person or simply recycled and regurgitated by a contraption of staggering power and capability. While many status-seekers, driven by commercial agendas may feel the average reader doesn’t give a Clark Gable damn about original art, a multitude of others vehemently disagree.
For any single voice in a vast online ocean, this issue has become far too sizeable to ignore or deny. While dramatically increasing our capacity to research and produce content at lightning speed, what is the true human price being paid? What are the unintended consequences of this new behemoth now confronting civilization? Have we truly passed the Point of Know Return?
Driving west from Calgary, towards a beckoning sunset over the Canadian Rockies, the sensory jolt occurs during a Scott Galloway podcast. His guest, former chief Google Business Officer, Mo Gawdat is explaining how the 4th level of this contraption currently has an IQ of about 155. To put this into perspective, Einstein had an IQ of 160. Throughout history, there have been a few others who ranked 100 points higher. Gawdat believes it won’t be long before technology has the horsepower to surpass us all.
On a global scale, many experts see this snarling beast as a much more significant game-changer than the automobile, the atomic bomb, electricity, the electric guitar and Covid-19 all put together and multiplied a thousand-fold. But what does it mean to those of us who exist at ground zero? What will be the economic, social, political and moral fallout at both personal and professional levels?
One way to find out is by asking others how they feel. Start asking everyday people you bump into daily at your favourite coffee shop, the dry cleaners, the bank or in the grocery lineup one simple question.
“Would you prefer to read a book, listen to music or get lost in a painting composed by a real person or a machine?
Out of 100 random strangers, what percentage do you think would have a strong preference to experience art conceived by a real human being? How many would choose an artificial apparatus?
How would you respond to the question?
While this technology has opened a Pandora’s Box of moral and ethical issues, it appears at least one area of our shared humanity has been overlooked. In between unrestrained jubilation about this breakthrough technology and doomsday prognostications, one issue has slipped through the cracks.
The act of creation itself.
That metaphysical moment of truth is when any artist stares at a blank page or canvas and decides to get busy. A kernel of an idea becomes a tiny seed planted in a fertile imagination. Just to see which way it could grow and take shape. To scribble, sketch or strum without care. Allowing the initial concept to gradually flourish without any concern about how it will “land” or “go over” with any audience.
It's a supernatural experience. To magnetically channel an explosive burst of inspiration and capture it in such a way that will touch millions. That’s precisely what happened to Kerry when his mid-level rock band was in desperate need of a hit record that would revive their floundering career. Formed in Topeka, Kansas in 1972, Kerry and his bandmates were about to be dropped by their record company. After three albums with little commercial traction, Kerry threw heart, soul and his personal spiritual quest over a Midwestern fence.
Kerry and his Kansas bandmates would go on to record three multi-platinum albums and perform before sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. "Carry On Wayward Son" has become one of the most frequently played tracks on classic rock radio for decades.
Like artists that came before him and ones to follow, Kerry Livgren tapped into a pure phenomenon. An unbridled energy flow that only appears when we harness our personal horse and rider is called Focus and Stillness.
To allow ourselves the freedom to experiment, release the inner stallion and gallop untamed. To take that which is neither tangible nor observable and through diligence and dexterity, manifest a single idea as an expression of art.
This is our birthright.
It’s how Albert stared at an oversized cuckoo clock and created the Theory of Relativity and E=mc2. It’s how Henry Ford created the production line, how Les Paul invented the electric guitar and how the masterful Steven Pressfield penned The War of Art and The Legend of Bagger Vance.
You don’t need to possess the futuristic gifts of a Captain Obvious to see what’s happening. We have already passed the point of no return with a machine racing ahead much faster than our genetic wiring is capable of. This knowledge base without a face can detect patterns of thought that automatically eliminates any form of writer’s block. Any mediocre hack can discover any information needle pulled from 100 million haystacks and quickly add a twist that could pass as an original. Creative bones? Not required, let alone artistic muscles that need flexing.
All is well and good until you consider our most important relationships and critical matters of economic, commercial, geo-political and social interactions are all built on trust. Given that we live in a world of manipulated algorithms, deep fakes, conspiracy theories and alternative facts, public trust is under siege like never before. However, we as individuals still possess the power to follow our moral compass and not get caught up in the whirlwind. Or as Kerry Livgren prophesized over five decades ago.
“Once I rose above the noise and confusion. Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion”
At no time in human history have we been challenged to sacrifice the one thing that will always make us human.
To toss overboard original thinking in the name of scale and efficiency.
To scuttle our natural gift to channel the divine.
A trade-off only you and I know the answer to.
“Every positive value has its price in negative terms. The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima” PABLO PICASSO
p.s… In the course of researching this post, here are some riveting observations on the implications of this new technology. The first 9:33 with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on a recent Tim Ferris podcast is a real eye-opener.
As for Mo Gawdat, fast forward to 20:55, so you can quickly get to the juicy stuff.
A final point to the argument for the act of creation can be observed by watching the legendary Jimmy Page explain what was involved in producing the epic Led Zeppelin became famous for.
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