Tuesday
Aug042009
The end of mass everything. DIY Days, Philly
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 8:19AM | in Books, Events, Life Inc, Video/TV/Movies KEYNOTE - DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
The End of the Story: How capitalism killed narrative, and how to grow new ones
The myth of infinite market expansion was supported, at least in part, by a story structure dependent on crisis, climax, and relief. Just as we are now demanding bankers give up their absolute control of our monetary system, must we as storytellers give up control of our narratives? And how can we make a living telling stories in a world where everyone now has a story to tell, and a means of telling it?
Reader Comments (16)
You should make a living doing something usefull. Storytelling you can do that in your spare time as a hobby. Unless you are so exeptionally good at it and people want to buy your books.... But if they don't then do something more usefull. Like baking bread or building a house.
Right. If you're good enough at something to create value through it, then do it for a living. If you're not, then don't.
But sometimes, the things that seem more concrete - like housebuilding - aren't really necessary, either. Just because it uses up more resources doesn't make it more real.
Great talk Doug. Good intro for folks who want to get up to speed with your life work. I especially like the Return of Jedi / Ewok tangent into Pong media theory example.
all the best.
- D.
Excellent talk, loved the allegories..although I've actually been following your work for a couple months now, and here are a couple of questions I have:
> I completely understand your point about our money being just one kind of money, but don't really understand when you say we won't need to keep account of it (whatever 'it' is)..also, don't you think this perspective ignores materialistic greed in people, which I tend to think is innate.
> In your vision of the world, is there a first step that we need to take towards dismantling this corporate system that's in place alienating us from one another? or, how do you see even the beginning of the end of corporatism as it is today (because they're going to fight tooth and nail to stay in power)
I've recently discovered and am very much enjoying your work Doug. For a long time now I've felt that the general populations passivity is a big issue that nobody seem to notice, even with things like social networking and such people tend to be pretty much passive. This also seem to be the case of much of Eastern inspired spirituality. While one may have to come to a point of appreciating our creative potential, it seems we're barely scratching the surface in actually utilizing it!
There once was a species of aliens on a distant planet that ate only grain. They lived in two groups. The ones that guarded the grain, and the ones that had to dance for their grain.
Eventually the guards became bored and decided to only give grain to the aliens with the most entertaining dances. But the dancers couldn't all please the guards, and so many began to starve.
But the ones that managed to impress the guards the most began to share the grain they had danced so hard for, and the people stopped starving.
And the guards were so happy to watch these enchanting aliens dance that they accidentally gave away all the grain. The dancers then gave their grain to the guards because they were no different from the starving aliens. And the guards finally just enjoyed watching the other aliens dance for fun.
And sometimes, they even danced themselves.
May the artists of the world dance hard enough that the guardians give up their grain.
Douglas, having watched many of your talks over the last 3 years, I must say that this one has to be your best so far. Very clear, very funny and very accessible. Well done, you are an inspiration
I have enjoyed your mind for many years now and was happy to see you on Boing Boing. I asked my local bookshop if they had a used copy of your book. They did not but were happy to hear that you had a new one out and ordered it for the store. I would like to purchase your book is there a way i could pay you ten dollars as well. You ended your talk about the sacred circle and I laughed with joy this morning before leaving to pressure wash someones driveway. Thank you
!!!!! you left out the part where luke levitates c3po using his mind.
stop leaving that part out please!! :)
when i say play space, yall say celebrate! play space...
Now living while making a living's the trick
Consulting the blueprint and wrestling with it
Scribbling at the margins a bit.
Myriads making and sharing Megilloth
While Fox issues wafers in infotainpits.
You can ask "What would i rather be doing?"
But not driving no car with no sticker's no trick
Or whether you get out a lot or just a bit.
It's how you ride your megillah
And where you're driving with it
In the still middle circle or at the margins a bit?
Were you tempted to use Twitter-sized utterances so your speech could be liveblogged? hehe. Similar to your speaking in a way that causes interviews to be edited so they carry your message more precisely.
Awesome talk. Such a high level of abstraction in the story telling area though. Difficult to see how the grand sense of free narrative can apply to the individual on the ground.
It's hard not to listen to your Ewok story and not apply it to the run-up to the Iraq war, which you probably intended. There's Colin Powell at the UN, with his holograms of aluminum tubes and hidden nuclear weapons programs, spinning a yarn to convince us all to destroy a country and slaughter thousands.
The comments that say 'if you're really good at something creative, then do it - otherwise do something useful' to be are ridiculous. Throughout history great creative people have had a common motivation: that is, they HAVE to create or die. They don't have a choice. Many have said that if you don't feel this need, then you absolutely shouldn't waste the public's time. That's the problem with modern 'artists'.
Obviously Mr. Rushkoff hasn't been a part of any kind of videogame culture. People who use cheat codes are sort of looked down upon. They're too dumb to figure out the game on their own and beat it according to the prescribed rules-set. Sure, there are cheat codes - just in case you're a dumbass, but good players will always try to get better, and not cheat. Or, if you've already beat the game and just want to mess around, THEN its acceptable to 'cheat' because at that point it doesn't matter.
We are a culture of cheaters. Too dumb to deal with life on its own merits. A false journey is from cheater to modder, and the greats will always go straight from player to modder.
k. just watched this part so i have to comment again. The Ewoks did NOT follow the heroes because of the story, jesus christ! The Ewok's had a pre-existing mythology wherein C-3PO, encased in gold, was seen as a deity. The story was just entertainment, and served to endear the people to the Ewoks -they became friends. My god. Stop altering stories to fit your ridiculous metaphors.
The above posts just reminds me of the saying "weapons of mass distraction." Okay so the gaming and Star Wars metaphors aren't so accurate, is that the point? Cheating aside, the game itself is very often an escape isn't it, if you want to talk about dealing with life on its own merits?
hey douglas,
the video is really nice.
why don't you dotsub it, so that we can pull an open translation effort?
thanks for what you do.
hugs from brazil.
jose.