Counterfeit creativity is robbing our species blind. We are sacrificing our souls on the altar of cheap, fast, free and easy, but at what price?

For most of human history, creativity had a cost. A painting required years of training, mistakes, dedication, practice, and courage. Music required months and years of pain, blisters, practice, rehearsal, performance, and courage. A novel required years of reading, learning, grammar, structure, practice, failure, perseverance and courage.

Even mediocre art took effort.

AI changes the creative math.

Now anyone with an internet connection can generate:

• a novel outline
• a painting
• a marketing campaign
• a song

…in seconds.

Which all raises an interesting question.

If something looks creative but required no creative effort, what exactly are we looking at?

Not fraud.

Not plagiarism (exactly).

Something new.

I’d like to introduce what I call counterfeit creativity.

Counterfeit Creativity

Counterfeit money looks real enough to circulate, and counterfeit creativity works the same way. It mimics the appearance of creative work. It seems to have structure, style, aesthetic cues and emotional beats, but the underlying process is fundamentally different.

Authentic creativity comes from struggle, lived experience, experimentation, and failure. Counterfeit creativity is generated through statistical pattern reconstruction. It produces something that looks like creativity without the creative journey behind it.

For now, it seems there are plenty of people left who can sense the AI Uncanny Valley, but that window is closing, and closing FAST.

Many people can’t immediately tell the difference because humans, historically, have judged creativity by output not process. Thus, if something reads like a novel, looks like a painting, or sounds like music our brains classify it as “creative.” But that assumption was originally wired in a world where output and effort were inseparable.

AI just broke that link.

The “Crapification” of Everything

I would love to say this problem happened just with the advent of AI, but end stage capitalism is merely the sterile syringe that delivered the literary lidocaine inuring us to what CRAP looks and sounds like. We are going to zoom in on the writing world, since that’s the water we swim in.

Early on, when I began this blog, I exclusively geared my content toward authors who wanted to traditionally publish. It wasn’t because I believed the Big Six were that special, but I appreciated WHY we might need a world with gatekeepers.

Additionally, though I could see the many benefits that could come with self-publishing and indie publishing, I saw the inherent dangers. How it would let out a genie we’d never get back in the bottle.

The democratization of publishing happened on other fronts as well, though. Remember Huffington Post? Arianna Huffington IMO single-handedly obliterated the print medium and all the writing jobs that once went with it. The exposure dollar economy was the warning shots.

Show up, write your best for us and you can tell the world we pay you great money let you post on OUR site where we make millions using an unpaid workforce. Tell a bunch of writers this will lead to bigger things, they post their BEST and promote it on all their social networks…and with every click we make ad money.

LOADS OF IT.

Pay the Writer

I know when I drop terms like late or end stage capitalism, I risk the eye rolls, but hear me out.

Creatives have always sought to be paid for their work. Yes, it might be au gauche or tawdry, but we don’t care. We spend years mastering something that others derive joy and value from? We should be compensated just like everyone else.

That and we like to eat and the power company doesn’t accept poetry as payment.

In earlier times, creatives had wealthy sponsors. Later, the markets aligned to give ways creative people could be paid/rewarded meaningfully for our hard work and years dedicated to honing a skill. Newspapers, periodicals, dime novels, copy, marketing, ads were all ways creative professionals could make a living while producing the next great work of art the world enjoyed.

Read Stephen King’s On Writing, Steven Pressfield’s War of Art, Robert McKee’s Dialogue and they all share stories of the paid “crappy” gigs these masters took on while working on the “real art.”

Late-stage capitalism describes the point where market incentives inevitably drive everything toward cheaper, faster, and more scalable versions of itself, even when that process strips away the craftsmanship and meaning that once made the product valuable.

Systems no longer optimize for creating value, but for producing the appearance of value as cheaply and quickly as possible. Pay the writer became…use the writer.

Or the musician, songwriter, painter, illustrator, animator, etc.

Tell them they are special, pay them in attention, then up the operational tempo to such a high level that literally no human artist could keep pace (relevant). Meanwhile use all the real art that creatives built to train the synthetic version that you’ll SELL them later when they are so desperate to remain in the loop they’ll audition for their own extinction.

The Art is Fake but the Rot is REAL

The real danger isn’t that AI can generate content, it is that AI is flooding the world with creative-looking artifacts detached from human meaning.

Imagine a future filled with books no human truly wrote, art no human felt, songs no human performed. You know what? Since we are already here, why do we even bother with museums? Expensive to store, insure, restore, preserve. We could just 3-D print some replicas. I mean is anyone REALLY going to be able to TELL if that’s the ACTUAL Mona Lisa?

Y’all can breathe now. I am being sarcastic. But, hopefully I made my point.

My largest concern with AI “art” hasn’t just been the creative professionals it displaces, but what it’s doing to humanity as a whole.

Never underestimate the unique human capacity to get used to some seriously LOW standards. I learned that lesson my first “hamburger day” in a public school lunchroom. Every kid was excited for a slightly greenish hamburger facsimile (some even bought TWO), while I was clutching my foodie pearls. How could they be excited to eat THAT?

Then I was there long enough to sample what the “normal” food was like and it made more sense.

My biggest concern about AI art has always been the impact on the audiences. Even now. We no longer go to the movies. Most are unwatchable. If we DO go to a movie, you know what is a WIN?

It was…watchable.

I used to think the creators of Idiocracy were onto something. Now? I think they might have had a crystal ball, and they also woefully underestimated just how dumb we humans can be.

The #1 movie in America was called “Ass.” And that’s all it was for 90 minutes. It won eight Oscars that year, including best screenplay.

Narrator of Idiocracy

We aren’t going to need to travel thousands of years in the future to grasp that we are hurtling toward a world where all the top shows are some poor dude getting hit in the ‘nads in clever ways (yes, that is a real thing from Idiocracy).

Dealing with Counterfeits

Since the point of my posts are to educate and empower you, what is the answer? The United States Secret Service oversees most of our money/financial crimes. They also go after counterfeiters. Do you think they train years and years on every fake out there and what to look for?

Nope.

They spend years and years understanding AMERICAN CURRENCY. How do the bills feel? They learn how to tell a real c-note with their eyes closed. Because they know the real thing so intimately, they don’t need to concern themselves with the fakes. The fakes practically pop out.

There is a good reason the best writers are also avid readers. Read the excellent works, train, practice, fail, get up, do better and hone those skills. Write excellent stories. I know we are all under a lot of pressure to be content mills that feed the public’s (supposedly) ravenous appetite.

But why are they so famished?

Years and years of increasingly empty creative calories and artificial art.

Not only is it unsatisfying, but it warps the palate.

Take a person used to drinking cheap sodas and eating junk food then try to give them good food. They won’t like it at first because it will taste strange. Layers of artificial ingredients are masking that what’s being served is inedible, empty and possibly toxic and yet people binge on the stuff.

Same with counterfeit creativity. We have a narrow window where there are enough people around to remember what art used to feel like. With all the AI slop in circulation, get to work. Superlative art will rise. Audiences will find it and stick like glue because it resonates with their souls.

Counterfeits are always costly. Counterfeit money can implode a country just as sure as fake art can bankrupt a culture.

This is why it is critical now, more than ever, to cherish real art before we drift into a world that can no longer even recognize it. If we do get to a point that no one can tell between Monopoly money from the real thing, only then will we be out of a job. Until then, we are still in the game.

But I warn y’all… tempus fugit.

We don’t have forever.

What are YOUR thoughts on Counterfeit Creativity?

Other than it goes with counterfeit cleverness? Personally, I am exhausted with all the AI slop. AI cannot create art. Period. It is a tool. The paintbrush doesn’t make the art, the artist does. The keyboard doesn’t make the story, the writer does. And, for me? There is a certain je ne sais quoi missing from AI “creations.”

That said, do you think we could hit a time that humans won’t really recognize art? Or is it too deeply wired in us? If everything “looks real”, who will remember how to tell the difference?

Do you think that removing the human from art could eventually remove humanity from the human? I know we writers love these existential arguments, but I think this is a good one. If all the art is shallow, derivative and superficial, wouldn’t we eventually see a culture that is shallow, derivative and superfi—–

Houston, we have a problem…

The post Counterfeit Creativity: The High Cost of Cheap Art appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Imagination is fundamental to success in, well, pretty much everything. Yet, strangely, many thought-leaders and experts are pushing humans to hone skills that robots can do a billion times better and faster (like working 24/7).

Problem is, if we train like robots, think like robots, and act like robots, we’re doomed to be replaced by them.

Our best insurance for rising to the top of our profession—ANY profession—is to refine what’s essentially human. We’re wise to become the best in those areas where computers, apps, and robots don’t hold massive advantage.

These areas require a robust right brain and well-developed imagination…which might just entail a lot of ‘wasting time.’

How This Started

As y’all might know, I consume a ridiculous amount of books…all kinds of books. Novels of every genre, non-fiction, self-help, books about business, leadership, finance, and entrepreneurship.

Recently, I started listening to Daymond John’s Rise and Grind. Why? Because I loved, loved, loved The Power of Broke and recommend that book to everyone…all the time.

I’ve listened that book it at least six times and learn something new with every pass.

That book challenged my outdated thinking and was a swift kick in the tail to come up higher. The Power of Broke revealed—in Technicolor—where and why I was stalling, and reprogrammed a vast mental library of archaic business advice I was unaware I even had.

This book empowered me and unlocked creative solutions to some tough problems facing creative professionals in particular. Hands down The Power of Broke should be a staple in any entrepreneur’s (or author’s) library.

Rise and Grind? We’ll get to that.

Gathering Seed

Reading books, for me, is like gathering seed to plant better ideas in my life and the lives of others.

I had high hopes for Daymond John’s Rise and Grind because I’m a firm believer in a solid work ethic. Despite my initial excitement, this book has been challenging for me to finish, because it’s tough to press on when you feel your profession’s been knifed.

***And for anyone who’s followed me any length of time, y’all know I have serious rhino skin.

Anyway, Daymond made a claim early in Chapter Three of the book that put a bee—no a swarm of bees— in my bonnet. I might have chosen to pass over this ‘advice’ and not say anything because opinions vary, etc. No big deal. Move on.

Problem is, as much as I read, I’ve spotted a dangerous pattern among success and business experts. Activities they condemn, dismiss, and admonish as a ‘waste of time’ might be the very activities that will prevent us all from being replaced by an app.

That never has a sick day.

Excuse Me?

Reading a lot of books is not enough. It’s imperative we make sure to read while critically thinking, listening actively, and making sure that what’s being given as ‘advice’ makes sense and is consistent with the overall message.

Thus, this quote in particular left me scratching my head and more than a bit peeved.

At first–for brevity–I was only going to quote it in part, but context in this case does matter, and I added in my impressions while listening to this section of the audiobook.

Daymond John:

The time will never be perfect so you can only make perfect use of your time (I agree!). You know, one of the positive habits I’ve developed in this area has more to do with what I don’t do than what I DO do (Again, YES!). And it goes to make sure I have time enough for the big stuff (Amen!).

And what I DON’T do is watch a lot of television (Hold up, what?).

That was never really my thing (fair point), although these days with all these great shows like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead that everyone seems to be binge-watching left and right, it gets tougher and tougher to resist that temptation. I’m made to feel like I’m missing out and I guess I am…but I’ve got THINGS to do, man (Oh-kay).

Nothing against all you folks who make the time to binge watch these shows (Really? What about the writers and creatives? No, not insulted AT ALL) but it doesn’t feel to me like I have all the time to sit in front of the television.

Oh, I’ll watch a nature show every once in a while or a documentary. I’ll keep up on the news and anything educational (*left eye twitches* because vast stories with complex plots, detailed worlds, and layered characters aren’t at ALL educational) or business related and, of course, I’ll be sure to tune into every new Shark Tank episode (Of course).

But I try to avoid all these great story-driven shows like Homeland or Empire. Why? Because they’re just stories (JUST STORIES—WTH?). Because you get caught up in them. Because they’re addictive (which is why they are billion-dollar franchises, btw). Because there’s a lot I have to get done, and as good as these shows are, they’re not worth what I’d have to give up.

Um, okay…..

Why This Vexed Me

Granted, I’m hesitant to disagree (even politely) with The People’s Shark since I’m an still an avid fan, love his work, and have learned tremendously from him. Also, who am I? I’m not a gazillionaire with a vast empire and private jet.

Why did this seemingly innocent declaration twist such a knot in my knickers?

First, because Daymond John initially made his name in fashion. Using his odd logic, why aren’t fashion shows, fashion magazines and looking at pictures of clothes on Instagram a total time waste as well? Seems more than a tad contradictory, but this was not what slammed my mental brakes.

It’s because Daymond John is not the first expert/guru to essentially state that ‘just stories’ have little to no value.

Because writers don’t have a hard enough time with self-worth.

Daymond John may feel these ‘great stories’ aren’t a wise use of time. But just as he challenged MY thinking in The Power of Broke, I can see no better way to honor the gifts he’s given me than to return the favor and challenge his thinking as well. 

Words Have Power

First of all, every major change in human history started with a writer and a story. Storytellers are the usurpers, the visionaries, the advocates, and the subversives…which is why we’re often lined up and shot. Writers have taken down kings, toppled empires, and changed human hearts and minds more than any other force.

Powerful influencers would be wise to appreciate the power of words.

Experts like me are struggling to get writers to value themselves, their work, and their contribution to the world. We’re desperate to coax writers (who can be a lot like feral cats) out from under the dust ruffle to learn more about the business of their business.

Writers don’t want to read entrepreneur books, and frankly, I can’t blame them. Too many of these guides callously dismiss writer dreams as ‘valueless time wasters.’

Thoughtless commentary from cultural idols (which is then taken as fact by everyday people) is precisely why creatives are hurting. We’re blasted, mocked, and told to get ‘real jobs’…from the same peers who spend vast amounts of time and income enjoying the fruits of what writers create.

Last I checked Universal Studios Hollywood built an entire theme park devoted to Harry Potter…not to Napoleon Hill.

Yet, the larger point of this post is that diminishing the arts negatively impacts every entrepreneur, not only the author entrepreneur. Let’s unpack how…

The 90/10 Rule

Many of you have likely heard of the 80/20 Rule also known as the Pareto principle, also referred to as the law of the vital few. In short, 20% of our activity will account for 80% of our results.

Though y’all might have heard of the 80/20 rule, you may not have heard of the 90/10 rule, which specifically applies to the game of money.

Ten percent of persons in any field, hold and share ninety percent of the wealth. The remaining ten percent of wealth is then divided among the remaining ninety percent of participants.

In professional sports, ten percent make ninety percent of the wealth. In real estate, entertainment, food service, professional speaking, fashion, and on and on.

The same holds true in writing. Ever heard of Stephen King?

Now, before anyone gets depressed, remember this is a RULE. Thus, by definition, rules can be changed or even broken. As I say when teaching craft, ‘We have to know the rules to break the rules.’

Pursue as much instruction as possible, but be brave enough to politely disagree and be able to articulate WHY.

Wasting Time

Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Daniel Davis

I agree. We all get the same twenty-four hours in a day as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein, etc. I get it. Dreaming is useless without the doing. We can dream for years about being a mega-author, but we need to write a book.

Ah, but here’s the kicker. We can’t write just any book to break into that top ten percent.

Rising and grinding isn’t all that remarkable. Plenty of people hustle every single day, yet leave no enduring legacy. This tells me there’s an additional ingredient—an X Factor—essential for transforming dreams into reality.

What is YOUR Business?

Our culture spends an absurd portion of their income on entertainment, meaning this is a VERY lucrative business for those who are the best at what they do. Yet, bizarrely, success experts spend an awful lot of time shaming those who spend large amounts of time reading fiction or watching series or movies.

Clearly, people who immerse in these ‘worthless’ activities are wasting time.

Which doesn’t jive with reality and actual facts.

Quentin Tarantino is a legendary filmmaker, but HOW did Tarantino make it to the top of Hollywood?

As an adult he found one obsession, watching films on his VCR. It was from this obsession of watching movies over and over again that Quentin learned about film making. As a result of watching so many videos at his local video shop, Video Archives invited him to work for them.

And the rest is film making history.

Imagination Must Be Valued & TRAINED

Creativity and imagination are fundamental for success in everything, not only the arts. Why so many entrepreneurs and businesses fail is they’re bad retreads.

The idea, product, service is a regurgitation of more of the same. A copy repackaged. There’s nothing innovative, exciting or alluring about what they’re offering.

Millennials take a lot of heat for being lazy goof-offs who spend too much time consuming entertainment. Yet, this generation is also turning out a ridiculous number of self-made multi-millionaires who aren’t yet old enough to legally buy beer. Why? IMAGINATION.

Imagination is what transforms dead ends into challenges and problems into puzzles. Creative people don’t see a wall, they see a way to practice parkour ;). 

Can we say Apple?

Binge Training

For Daymond John and other success gurus, maybe binge-watching Walking Dead or Game of Thrones is a time waster, but that’s pretty limited thinking. For storytellers who long to be the best of the best, watching these series is pure time-management GOLD.

In my POV this is maximizing time, squeezing vast training into a condensed form. Every show I watch, I do with purpose, studying character, dialogue, pinch-points, plotting, subtext, world-building, setting, arc, theme, etc.

That ten percent we mentioned earlier? Those are the creators who land HBO series and movie deals. If my goal is to join their ranks, what better way than to relentlessly STUDY their work?

I can watch GoT then read or listen to the novels to see how George R.R. Martin delivered the same story using words. This allows me to study my craft from multiple angles and in a variety of ways.

Watching television and movies can be a dumb use of time, sure. But only if we allow it. If we watch the wrong content or only consume passively, then we lose out on a vast reservoir of that X Factor. 

The Power of Story

Stories train critical thinking, to question authority and even reality, to refuse to accept one’s lot. Stories teach triumph in the face of overwhelming odds.

The vast complex stories like Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Dexter showcase a vast array of perspectives, immerse us in how other people think, feel, react (people who are not JUST like US). Stories offer an intimate look into what humans long for and value.

Stories also point out weaknesses and failings, ergo the nod to Fight Club above.

Why Many Entrepreneurs Fail 

Stories are extremely valuable for any entrepreneur, because (as mentioned) great stories are priceless instruction about humans (code for ‘consumers’).

What do ‘people’ want? Crave? Products change. Technology changes. Humans don’t. Whether it’s the 16th century or the 21st, we want to look good, feel good, have fun, gain an edge, attract a mate, solve a problem, etc.

Yet…

Countless dreamers believe they have a must-have product or service. Problem is, they’ve only used their own perspective and the perspective of those like them in their ‘creative’ process.

They’ve failed to fully use their imagination and envision their groundbreaking idea from every angle…a skill they might have learned by watching more great stories and fewer ‘educational’ programs.

By paying sole attention to the news/media or focusing only on who will buy their product or how much money they might make…they’re prone to end up with market myopia. 

Sometimes the product fails to ever take off, because entrepreneurs are essentially selling to themselves. Other times, the product does ignite in popularity, only to go horribly wrong.

American Dream or American Horror Story?

The biggest example that comes to my mind were the inventors of the ‘innovative’ toys and the ‘fake piercings’ (marketed to adults and teens) that used tiny, powerful (and often colorful) magnets.

Unfortunately, the creators failed to anticipate their target market might not be the only ones to ‘consume’ the product. Because these entrepreneurs failed to war-game the product through and from every possible vantage point (like a toddler who’d gravitate to a mouthful of shiny ‘beads’), a killer product idea turned into a killer product…literally.

What began as a dream, ended up every parent’s (and inventor’s) nightmare.

Conversely, other entrepreneurs harnessed imagination to solve problems we didn’t even know we had. By thinking out ‘problems’ from every possible angle, these innovators redefined our world. For instance, we call an Uber, not a taxi, rent an AirBnB instead of a hotel room, etc.

THAT is the power of imagination.

Millennials, according to Forbes, make up 23% of the world’s millionaires and this generation is not exactly known for shying away from ‘time wasting’ activities. Perhaps the reason these crazy kids are thinking in new ways is precisely because they have a healthy relationship with entertainment, play and fun. 

Just a thought .

In The End

The greatest accomplishment of any book, even a NF success book, is to spark dialogue, challenge thinking, and open minds to new ideas. So thank you, Daymond, for again giving me a lot to think about. I’ve learned SO much! We might not agree on everything, but if we did, we might be mistaken for robots .

I believe in hard work, relentless pursuit of goals and dreams but at the same time, we can never outwork a robot. Imagination is about working smarter not harder. Hustle is critical, but not the only ingredient for reaching our goals.

In the end, believe in yourself and your dreams…even if your dream is to create a multi-billion dollar ‘time-wasting’ empire

What Are Your Thoughts?

Do you get weary of writer shaming? Do you find it odd that success experts criticize creatives…while holding up Michelangelo, da Vinci, Disney, and Einstein as role models? What are your thoughts about imagination, how it may be what protects us from being replaced by an app?

I love hearing from you and am not above bribery!

What do you WIN? For the month of FEBRUARY, for everyone who leaves a comment, I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

***January’s winner will be announced next post.

CLASSES!

Business of the Writing Business: Ready to ROAR!

Instructor: Kristen Lamb

Price: $55.00 USD

Where: W.A.N.A. Digital Classroom

When: Thursday, February 15, 2018, 7:00-9:00 p.m. EST

Being a professional author entails much more than simply writing books. Many emerging authors believe all we need is a completed novel and an agent/readers will come.

There’s a lot more that goes into the writing business…but not nearly as much as some might want us to believe. There’s a fine balance between being educated about business and killing ourselves with so much we do everything but WRITE MORE BOOKS.

This class is to prepare you for the reality of Digital Age Publishing and help you build a foundation that can withstand major upheavals. Beyond the ‘final draft’ what then? What should we be doing while writing the novel?

We are in the Wilderness of Publishing and predators abound. Knowledge is power. We don’t get what we work for, we get what we negotiate. This is to prepare you for success, to help you understand a gamble from a grift a deal from a dud. We will discuss:

• The Product
• Agents/Editors
• Types of Publishing
• Platform and Brand
• Marketing and Promotion
• Making Money
• Where Writers REALLY Need to Focus

A recording of this class is also included with purchase.

Self-Publishing for Professionals: Amateur Hour is OVER

Instructor: Cait Reynolds

Price: $99.00 USD

Where: W.A.N.A. Digital Classroom

When: Friday, February 16, 2018, 7:00-10:00 p.m. EST

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Are you going to go KDP Select or wide distribution with Smashwords as a distributor? Are you going to use the KDP/CreateSpace ISBN’s or purchase your own package? What BISAC codes have you chosen? What keywords are you going to use to get into your target categories? Who’s your competition, and how are you positioned against them?

Okay, hold on. Breathe. Slow down. I didn’t mean to induce a panic attack. I’m actually here to help.

Beyond just uploading a book to Amazon, there are a lot of tricks of the trade that can help us build our brand, keep our books on the algorithmic radar, and find the readers who will go the distance with us. If getting our books up on Amazon and CreateSpace is ‘Self-Publishing 101,’ then this class is the ‘Self-Publishing senior seminar’ that will help you turn your books into a business and your writing into a long-term career.

Topics include:

• Competitive research (because publishing is about as friendly as the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones)
• Distribution decisions (because there’s actually a choice!)
• Copyright, ISBN’s, intellectual property, and what it actually all means for writers
• Algorithm magic: keywords, BISAC codes, and meta descriptions made easy
• Finding the reader (beyond trusting Amazon to deliver them)
• Demystifying the USA Today and NYT bestselling author titles
• How to run yourself like a business even when you hate business and can’t math (I can’t math either, so it’s cool)

Yes, this is going to be a 3-hour class because there is SO much to cover…but, like L’Oréal says, you’re worth it! Also, a recording of this class is also included with purchase.

The class includes a workbook that will guide you through everything we talk about from how to do competitive research to tracking ISBNs and distribution, and much, much more!

Time is MONEY, and your time is valuable so this will help you make every moment count…so you can go back to writing GREAT BOOKS.

DOUBLE-TROUBLE BUSINESS BUNDLE

BOTH classes for $129 (Save $25). This bundle is FIVE hours of professional training, plus the recordings, plus Cait’s workbook to guide you through everything from how to do competitive research to tracking ISBNs and distribution and more.

The post A Letter to Daymond John: Robots Rise When Imagination Dies appeared first on Kristen Lamb.