Subject Matter 11: Post-Everything, Pre-Everything Else
The first half of 2018 has been full of interesting developments, and deserves commemorations. We published two essays, did a talk, worked on some soon-to-be-announced products, made new friends, and reconnected with some old ones. This update will cover a few of these developments. Recommended listening for this update: Yōkoso — Donnachea Costello.
I am writing to you from Sydney, where I'll be until the end of August. Hanging out primarily in Newtown and Surrey Hills—if you're here, I'd love to say hello. You can also find me at Touch, an experimental event created by Paprika, this Sunday the 19th. This promises to be something very special. August 27th - September 2nd — a long-overdue visit to San Francisco.
---
Updates on our thinking
After Authenticity is my most expansive public writing yet. It's a comprehensive explanation of authenticity culture, its history, its transformation into an aesthetic category, and its now-fading relevance. It's also a reflection of my personal journey. Writing this forced me to confront my own relationship to authenticity. I suffered for this essay, and was rewarded accordingly. Dozens of fascinating conversations and connections were initiated following its release, and we made it onto Kottke, Marginal Revolution, The Fashion Law, and Kneeling Bus among others. An army of Subpixel Space collaborators was drawn into the vortex of conversations, which over the course of nearly a year produced this thinking. Thank you—this a step forward for all of us.
I followed it up with the remaining pieces: The Disbeliever's Guide to Authenticity takes post-authenticity even further, and explores what it is to live, think, and feel in the world after authenticity. Those of us working on defining and understanding our values may find this helpful. Be warned: the 2x2 charts within contain powerful magic. Once seen, they can't be forgotten.
These posts put authenticity in its grave, but others are putting the nails in the coffin. Kyle Chayka wrote about algorithmic style, Jay Owens on post-authentic meme culture. Tom Hoy, building on these works, has unleashed a nuanced take on the flexibility of meanings that comes after the death of the authenticity master narrative. As for Subpixel Space, the third and final part of our journey into authenticity is coming soon. I delivered a version of this material as a talk at Ribbonfarm's Refactor Camp, entitled A New Era of Trust.
----
Forthcoming work
This last year, I've spent a large portion of my time thinking about cultural systems. But building is just as important as writing. Products are objects embedded within culture, and in our opinion, have a responsibility to respond to culture accordingly. In the coming weeks, an initiative I've been working on with Underdog.io for several months will be released. We hope it will serve as an example of a product that reflects and deploys cultural infrastructure. This is a big one, and I'm very proud of the team who put it together.
It is my complete and utter conviction that aesthetics, as a category of cultural production, is obsolete.These thoughts have been forming for a long time, in conversations with Betty, Darren, Turtlekiosk, and many others. I am still finding the best way to articulate the logic behind this conviction. But I suspect it will be more and more clear in the coming years how true this is.
Finally, Darren, Bryan, and I have been conducting research into non-fungible tokens, one of the most interesting developments in the blockchain space. In our conversations with other thinkers, we've gleaned some interesting insights. If you have ideas to contribute to a forthcoming report on NFTs, I am curious to speak with you.
---
Network
I feel enormous gratitude to my friends, close collaborators, and partner for enriching my life with the most meaningful moments, conversations and experiences. Let's keep creating places to explore together.
Flower Tokens - the first NFT corresponding to a renewable, living resource. Congratulations to Trust and to Terra0 for this project.
Dan, Melanie, Austin, Callil, Lucy, and a whole host of friends have made an incredible space, the warmest community.
Whale of a Tale — At Kentaro's invitation, I had a chance to watch this excellent documentary. It is in some ways a response to 2009's The Cove, but is so much more. This film is about how people make money and reputations on the dynamics of high-visibility outrage media. I hope documentaries in the future will be more like this: less of an activist weapon, more of a good-faith exploration of two sides of a political conflict.
---
Summer listening
Yōkoso — Donnachea Costello
In A Silent Way — Miles Davis
Well Done My Son — Shed
Open Secret (Paris) — Jon Hassell
Busy / Sirens — Saba
Blue Nile — Alice Coltrane
WiFi Watchu Think — WiFi Mami
Elusive Garden — Flaty
Stop Trying to be God — Travis Scott
Catch My Heart — Bohren and der Club of Gore
The Colors of Chloë — Eberhard Weber
I am writing to you from Sydney, where I'll be until the end of August. Hanging out primarily in Newtown and Surrey Hills—if you're here, I'd love to say hello. You can also find me at Touch, an experimental event created by Paprika, this Sunday the 19th. This promises to be something very special. August 27th - September 2nd — a long-overdue visit to San Francisco.
---
Updates on our thinking
After Authenticity is my most expansive public writing yet. It's a comprehensive explanation of authenticity culture, its history, its transformation into an aesthetic category, and its now-fading relevance. It's also a reflection of my personal journey. Writing this forced me to confront my own relationship to authenticity. I suffered for this essay, and was rewarded accordingly. Dozens of fascinating conversations and connections were initiated following its release, and we made it onto Kottke, Marginal Revolution, The Fashion Law, and Kneeling Bus among others. An army of Subpixel Space collaborators was drawn into the vortex of conversations, which over the course of nearly a year produced this thinking. Thank you—this a step forward for all of us.
I followed it up with the remaining pieces: The Disbeliever's Guide to Authenticity takes post-authenticity even further, and explores what it is to live, think, and feel in the world after authenticity. Those of us working on defining and understanding our values may find this helpful. Be warned: the 2x2 charts within contain powerful magic. Once seen, they can't be forgotten.
These posts put authenticity in its grave, but others are putting the nails in the coffin. Kyle Chayka wrote about algorithmic style, Jay Owens on post-authentic meme culture. Tom Hoy, building on these works, has unleashed a nuanced take on the flexibility of meanings that comes after the death of the authenticity master narrative. As for Subpixel Space, the third and final part of our journey into authenticity is coming soon. I delivered a version of this material as a talk at Ribbonfarm's Refactor Camp, entitled A New Era of Trust.
----
Forthcoming work
This last year, I've spent a large portion of my time thinking about cultural systems. But building is just as important as writing. Products are objects embedded within culture, and in our opinion, have a responsibility to respond to culture accordingly. In the coming weeks, an initiative I've been working on with Underdog.io for several months will be released. We hope it will serve as an example of a product that reflects and deploys cultural infrastructure. This is a big one, and I'm very proud of the team who put it together.
It is my complete and utter conviction that aesthetics, as a category of cultural production, is obsolete.These thoughts have been forming for a long time, in conversations with Betty, Darren, Turtlekiosk, and many others. I am still finding the best way to articulate the logic behind this conviction. But I suspect it will be more and more clear in the coming years how true this is.
Finally, Darren, Bryan, and I have been conducting research into non-fungible tokens, one of the most interesting developments in the blockchain space. In our conversations with other thinkers, we've gleaned some interesting insights. If you have ideas to contribute to a forthcoming report on NFTs, I am curious to speak with you.
---
Network
I feel enormous gratitude to my friends, close collaborators, and partner for enriching my life with the most meaningful moments, conversations and experiences. Let's keep creating places to explore together.
Flower Tokens - the first NFT corresponding to a renewable, living resource. Congratulations to Trust and to Terra0 for this project.
Dan, Melanie, Austin, Callil, Lucy, and a whole host of friends have made an incredible space, the warmest community.
Whale of a Tale — At Kentaro's invitation, I had a chance to watch this excellent documentary. It is in some ways a response to 2009's The Cove, but is so much more. This film is about how people make money and reputations on the dynamics of high-visibility outrage media. I hope documentaries in the future will be more like this: less of an activist weapon, more of a good-faith exploration of two sides of a political conflict.
---
Summer listening
Yōkoso — Donnachea Costello
In A Silent Way — Miles Davis
Well Done My Son — Shed
Open Secret (Paris) — Jon Hassell
Busy / Sirens — Saba
Blue Nile — Alice Coltrane
WiFi Watchu Think — WiFi Mami
Elusive Garden — Flaty
Stop Trying to be God — Travis Scott
Catch My Heart — Bohren and der Club of Gore
The Colors of Chloë — Eberhard Weber
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Subject Matter by Toby Shorin: