Ring Diagrams of Operational Motives
06.03.13
A few days ago, I was graphing some of the things I”ve been working on, trying to figure out what realms they address. I came up with four categories 1) Self 2) Imagination 3) Knowledge 4) Commerce. In trying to plot them, I drew them in these rings, operating outwardly. The idea is that the outer ring consists of the inner ring, and the outer ring adds to the inner ring. Interesting as a model, not sure how provable. Then I flipped it…
Is this not what the worst-case scenario of consumerism looks like?
I was struck by this as I was watching a documentary about Instagram, and seeing how the service/product has allowed people be creative in a space, but it ends up centering back around the product. This reminds me of how Neil Postman said that technology always ends up serving itself, it’s propagation and survival is it’s first job, uber alles.
And it’s precisely this flow that has driven me to delete dozens of Facebook, myspace, flickr, and other social network accounts. I don’t like serving products under the guise of ‘creativity’. To me creativity is fucking sacred, and should only be gone about for serving the rings in order of the first diagram, to establish self awareness, feed and draw from imagination, to build and be informed by knowledge, and at the end of the road, perhaps can be condensed into something salable. Not the other way around.
This latter diagram has us sitting as true “Consumers”.
Something to think about.