I would say like 60-80 percent of people consume for identity

When you buy into a brand, you’re buying into an idea/ideal, for example

Nike, Vuori, Lululemon are all athletic wear now transitioning to loungewear because their main consumer base are all either rich, semi-retired or active athletes. The shining ideal in this case of course being professional athletes, whom these brands sponsor.

first off, what is considered an artist?

this term is becoming increasingly broad, especially with the evolution of social media.

Is artist a term reserved exclusively for painters? or can it expand to tiktokers, instagrammers, “influencers” so to speak.

I would argue the latter are better qualified as modern artists than the former.

Now before this idea is torn to shreds - consider this - the definition of artist, grabbed from a quick Google search:

It’s looking pretty bad for me right now, I must admit. But please, I beg you, hear me out.

Why don’t we ask a deeper question. We now know the proper Oxford definition of “artist”, but what does it mean to be an artist?

Ok, interesting. Let’s ask Google again.

Try not to pay attention to the girl painting. If we read the definition, we’ll see that the ability to express creativity - that is what defines what it means to be an artist. And if we take this a step further, ones ability to affect change. That is what is known as a “revolutionary” artist.

Let’s pivot for a second and take some time to think about the new culture.

These days, “old” and “new” are somewhat meaningless terms. If social media is the “highway” that everyone takes, and the network that connects us all, then the current “meta” of what is old and new is not static. It is dynamic; constantly in flux and ever changing.

If you are someone who is checking social media everyday, you are effectively “updating” your brain to the daily meta everyday, carefully curated by yourself and the various social media serving algorithms, providing you just the right balance of advertisements and pictures of your friends trips to new exotic locations.

So you think we’re just computers? I thought we were special….

I agree. Humans are special. Sure, you could argue that ChatGPT, DALL-E, or whatever new catchy LLM model that has come to light will circumvent our need to ever have face to face interactions again. The flip side of this is recognizing that it was humans that came first, not machine.

Obvious yes, I know. But really think about that. What is an LLM, at the end of the day? It is mathematics, prediction algorithms, curated from a massive - around 570 gigabytes worth - of data. Reasonably speaking, with the right team, you could probably make your own ChatGPT.

Let me introduce one final concept, to wrap this up. The uncanny valley. Here’s what that is:

So what is Sepol?

Sepol Collective is not just an LLC. It’s also an idea - and that idea is still in flux and development. But for now, it means one thing - to provide you an escape from the uncanny valley.