Layer IV; Creativity and Autophagy

The act of creation as a concept has been put into discussion once again. Creating is a deeply human thing. It is not enough to bring together a new object, but to consider it an object of its own, to designate it as new. A crow using tools to reach its hard-to-get food doesn’t understand the tool used as an object apart from itself. Meanwhile, humans can take a bunch of things, mix them in their own (somewhat) original way, and call it an invention.

We have a bunch of musicians who seemingly all use the same tools in different ways, but somehow create completely different works. My Bloody Valentine doesn't sound like, for example, Radiohead, even though they use roughly the same instruments.

Lately in online discussions I have seen many times the opinion of there not being “new” music releases anymore. That every new project more or less just mixes already existing things, and that the creativity of it comes from the way the author mixes those things. I believe that there is no substance in thinking this way, because, as I have established before, the act of creating has always been this way.

There is a problem though, and it is that in some spaces, the creators are in fact creating and mixing their inspirations in derivative ways that has done harm to their respective niches (at least in relation to the creative aspect of them). And that is the fact that they are committing what I call creative autophagy. That is, consuming only one type of media, and fueling their creativity with only that said music/shows/etc. That way, their creation becomes automatically derivative.

I see this specifically in mediums like manga. Many authors seem to only take cues from older manga and its formulas, which wouldn’t be a problem if they inserted ideas taken from any other place too. But that is usually not the case. The same situation can be more evidently seen in certain music genres. Phonk (most notoriously, thanks to the advent of brazilian phonk/oversaturated trash), Vaporwave (though I’m feeling a revival is coming soon), Breakcore/Jungle (the Sewesrlvt kind), etc.

Anyways, it’s nothing new nor that deep. People usually like what others do, and when they want to make something, they want to make something just as good. It’s just part of the process of becoming an original artist to start from somewhere, and that somewhere usually belongs to someone else. Still, in the future I would like to analyze some of these cases in more detail.

 

Layer III; Playing an instrument and Consumerism - Gear Acquisition Syndrome

I play an electric bass, and lately I have been experiencing what the internet seem to call "GAS", or "Gear Acquisition Syndrome". What I mean is that, lately, I've been very tempted to buy more and more equipment for my bass playing.

This experience is shared among many internet users, and I've come to accept that I'm not immune to it. During last summer I upgraded my bass (now I've got an Ibanez SR300E) and my amp (which is a Peavey TKO115-S). Also bought an EQD Hizumitas fuzz pedal, which is kinda overkill but also really fun (I love Boris, so it was a no-brainer for me). For now at least, this should be my endgame, because I live in an apartment and can´t play any louder. Yet I feel this need of buying more equipment.

So there is this need of buying more and more gear even though is completely unnecessary. I love how my rig sounds, yet I feel there is something missing. Seems like the tone chasing will never end.

Anyways, maybe I should stop watching those demos of boutique Doom Metal pedals, they probably are the source of the problem. I mean, most of them just end up being ads in disguise lmao.

 

  

Layer II; Potlatch, Non-wealth and the AI bubble

Human economy is not based around accumulating wealth, but instead its actual nature is to be wasted. The act of expenditure is what brings purpose to wealth. This aspect of general economy has been developed by Bataille in his own philosophical and economic essays (The Accursed Share vol. 1 being one of my favorites).

AI has been a thing for decades now, but in the last few years it has become an object of investment. Why? Certainly not for revenue. In fact, it is due to the exact opposite. Along with other internet based economic fiascos (like NFTs and the metaverse), AI and LLMs have become the most favorable way of wasting wealth.

As a species, we are enacting the potlatch (in Bataille’s terms) once again, not through war but through the expenditure of massive amounts of wealth that go right down the drain. But I don't think billionaires are spending massive amounts of money as an alternative to war. After all, war still exists around the globe. Rather, thanks to the value of money being a complete simulacra, completely disconnected to any sort of physical phenomena that holds that value down to earth, we have accumulated so much wealth that we had to find new ways of expenditure.

This wasted wealth was a non-existent wealth in the first place, so it’s no surprise that it is being burned in front of our eyes. Humans, and their economic nature, revolve around sacrifice.

 

Layer I; Introduction

First of all, welcome to my blog, hope you have a great time. I've wanted for years now to have my own little piece of territory on the internet, and now I've got it!

This space will usually work as a place for me to talk about different things that I  find interesting. My posts will usually talk about philosophy, the media that i like, etc. I don't want to make it about just the current event that everyone has talked about already. I want this to be a place for self-expression and thought on topics that I find interesting.

So yeah, here I will try my best to portray my thoughts on a foreign language. Hope I make myself understandable enough, and that you enjoy the posts.

Also, I will usually attach to my posts different images or gifs that probably don't even relate to the content of the entry (although I will try to make them related xd), as a way to share images that I found amusing. Hope you enjoy them too.