I like the idea that AI is about communication. it started a stream of thoughts around the fact that it’s not democratizing access to certain skills to get rid of people but more so to allow folks with different backgrounds access to each other’s minds. it gives us a window so that we can communicate more effectively with others. because while AI may get rid of basic skill jobs, basic coding, stock photos, stock music. it will not get rid of the desire to make things to build. just because I can now get basic programs and code simple things does not give me the same mindset of an elite programmer who studies the ins and outs of languages and compilers. the same way AI making music will not get rid of the mindset of someone who just sits and thinks about making music. it does not get ride of the desire to play an instrument the craftsmanlike world view. I don’t know what I’m saying but it was profound I assure you lol. but like I think it really points to the fear that we will lose our identity if the tools radically morph out of our control. or change beyond recognition.

but we are not our tools we are beyond our tools. we are the space in which the tools appear. no one can change that or take it away. the patterns of our identity can take on a very close intimacy with our tools, but tools break, they become obsolete. we may fall in love with a piece of software or an instrument, sometimes our attachments to our tools become almost co-dependent. the tool not only becomes a part of us, but an essential part. As if it’s an extra limb. and when that tool breaks or the company who makes it decides it needs some new bullshit upgrade that will increase profits it can feel like a piece of us is dying. like losing a limb or a partner. It’s unhealthy when we feel like the process is inextricably tied to the tool, it both begins and stops there.

but that as we should all know is a fallacy. the tools are merely a piece of the process, just as we ourselves are merely a piece of the process. but the real way to look at it is that the process is bigger than any of us or our tools. the end is not with the internet or the guitar there is a current that flows deeper than what is apparent at first glance that steers us into waters we never thought to explore. what causes us to dive into a profession or some type of skill or practice is not the tool. It is something more fundamental. the tool is a part of it, sure, sometimes even an extremely important part of it, but it does not hold the entire key of why we decide to create in a given way. Ableton was such a game changer for me. I literally cannot think of how I would be creating music if I had not encountered that software. But I frequently look beyond it. I look at other softwares, I look at other methods of creating music, hell I look at other ways of creating art, other art forms.

This is pertinent with AI and I feel that it is fundamental to the fear around what will happen to the creators when these tools are fully integrated into common usage. We are afraid that the sunk cost of all the time and effort we put in to gain a fluency with certain tools will be too great for us to bear, resulting in a sort of creative bankruptcy. but I implore creators to look a bit deeper into what really drives them to create and wonder if too much has been based on the tools we use. but also to appreciate that learning to use a tool doesn’t hold you back from learning other tools. there are meta skills there, that will be increasingly important in the coming years as all of our tools undergo radical changes and developments.