Comment to "Is creativity dead?"
to nyt article: "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/opinion/social-media-algorithm-creativity.html"
Look, !'m 201 years old and spent a lot of time growing up in Antarctica. If you want to see sameness, you can't beat 19th century Antarctica.
Listen to me, because I can barely remember it.
A six month night means you get to know the stars really well. The aurora australis bathed us in beauty while katabatic winds basically freeze dried everything. Even more than the Arctic, reality is stripped to essentials in a barren, continent sized desert. We were isolated from the cultural and political turmoil that took place in the 19th century. Narratives and structures like "religions" and "politics" were unimaginable in the dry frozen dark. We developed language that mimiced the sounds of the fulmars, whales, penguins, and seals that we were barely distinguished from. That meant a lot of our communication was singing. We were humbled to be part of the animal kingdom.
In my 40s, our world ended when some sailors blew in from Ushaia and kidnapped us. We had no idea of the world beyond the Southern Ocean. I can't believe how often the sun rises and sets! We had never seen clothes that were not made of skins, land plants, and especially, wood. Wood is a miracle.
You youngsters are so easily distracted. You'll find it different after flood, fires and droughts reshape your culture to something closer to how I used to live.
