This is an unstructured rant written in the heat of the moment. Interpret the following writings with a pinch of salt.

What I hate the most about social media

Do you know what I hate the most about social media and the "grind" culture? It's not anything to do with AI or money (although of course I despise these things too). It's the commoditization of creativity; a belief in the eyes of NPCs throughout the world that your hobby must be boiled down to a marketable product for it to have value.

I wouldn't dare theorize on why this belief has become so widespread, but regardless, getting to the bottom of such things is not my purpose here. What I will say though, is that in a world of corporate bodies prioritizing uniformity and consumers prioritizing convenience, spending time on "useless" projects for the sake of your own selfish enjoyment and curiosity has become more important than it ever has.

Who are you doing this for?

Ultimately, we do this for own "selfish" reasons, because we enjoy it personally. It's okay to be selfish, because here's my main point: I don't believe that anyone cares about your individuality, your thoughts, or the things you create. And the commoditization of art that is occuring in the world right now proves it.

Nobody cares about your art

Yes, the program you coded, the song you wrote, the bowl you carved out of wood, are all "products" in the purest definition of the word. The product of your labour, curiosity and creative effort. But what is your creative output worth emotionally and intellectually? I'd argue that it's only worth as much as you yourself believe it to be - you are the god of your own creation, and thus you ought to be the one passing a final judgement. The people witnessing your work didn't create it, and so, while their judgement obviously does plays a part, their opinion is not of equal value to your own in regards to your work because they don't care about it as much as you do.

Consumers don't know what they want until it sits right under their noses, corporations don't know what to invest in without numbers going upwards on a graph. AI and LLMs are not advanced enough yet to where they can create entirely new pieces of art from scratch. And so, us creatives need to take charge, take no bullshit, and make art valueable again.