In Defence of Rebels and Booze

If you think culture has become a bit ‘samey’ of late, you’re not wrong. ‘Boring’, might be a better term. Whether in fashion, music, film, advertising, thought-leadership or business, replication is the name of the game and ticking the buzzword-bingo boxes has become easy and predictable.: ‘Sustainable’, ‘Diverse’, ‘Clean-living’, ‘Purpose-Driven’, ‘Productivity', ‘Mindfulness’ etc.... all safely within a rapidly shrinking Overton Window (en.wikipedia.o...) of ‘acceptable’ narratives.
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This is the age of copy-cat conformity and apparent cultural stagnation. Nine of the top ten grossing films of the last decade were sequels or franchises, pop music has got more similar (arxiv.org/pdf/...) over time, fan-fiction books flood into the top-performing genre (bafflingly, fairy-sex fantasy (www.thetimes.c...) - who knew?) The ‘Airbnb’ design aesthetic ( / airbnb-effect ) for interior design is now a thing, and punks, goths and emos have all but disappeared.
The familiar is comforting. Algorithms know this and reward it. TV adverts are formulaic to an almost comical degree; social reels recycle formats and soundtracks- with Beyonce’s ‘Texas Hold’em’ the current thumb-scrolling accompaniment. Even Linkedin has become awash with generic posts such as ‘here’s a (bleeding obvious) observation’, ‘‘40 things I learnt by 40’ (that frankly, you should have realised by 25), ‘My Top 10 Productivity Hacks’ (including the innovative, unplugged ‘walk’) and ‘The Problem with AI is…’ (normally written by AI). Why? Because they convert. Add some outrage and you’re really on to a winner. Check out the free Everything is a Remix ( • Everything is a Remix ... ) documentary for more - and you’ll see that it’s not necessarily all bad as much of our remixing culture is all about combining new with the old-and-familiar to help us understand the world better, plus achieve cut-through for the new. As Stephen King comments ‘imitation precedes creation’. All innovation is ultimately copy… transform… combine.
But we do still need to encourage rebels and mould breakers. How can we teach true free-thinking to the next generation of innovators in an exploding-AI world which is inherently derivative and risks drowning us in copy-cat content? A world where human quirk, creativity and unpredictability will become the point of difference.
I suspect many activists would deem themselves rebels, but are they really? Yes, they’re fighting ‘the system’ but activism is the new religion of purpose and it thrives within bubble-like tribes where adherents feel safe and welcome whilst indulging in mass confirmation bias. Many within ‘the system’ are typically sympathetic (academia and media especially) plus it’s much easier to advocate for simplistic tearing-things-down than for incremental progress on incredibly complicated, nuanced topics. It’s rarely ‘risky’. Indeed, pushing back on activism can often prove more perilous to careers and reputation by provoking the ire of mobs.
Better to play it ‘safe’, emulating tried and tested success or advocating for popular opinions than to go out on a limb in nearly any field. The recent online documentary ‘Climate - The Movie ( • Climate: The Movie ) ’ utterly blew my mind on this point, honing in on the science and experiences of non-grata, yet incredibly eminent Nobel-award-winning sceptics and so-called ‘deniers’. (A hugely worthwhile investment of time if - and only if - you’re intrigued by the possibility of having everything you’ve thought on the subject challenged. Note: Most aren’t. Please feel free to share any strong rebuttals of it with me as I honestly don’t know what to do with this new insight 🤯).
So where can we go for genuine inspiration now? ‘Inside ourselves’ seems to be one answer.
Recently we’ve seen the mainstreaming of serious-enquiry into micro-dosing and hallucinogenic drugs (with ayahuasca-parties a thing in start-up circles); the rise of breath-workshops that flood the brain with an excess of oxygen and revelation; ice-baths to shock the system; the boom of adrenalin-inducing activities and a resurgence of interest in spirituality in all its forms - yoga, nature-worship plus a renewed growth of interest in religion after many years of decline.
Drug-induced spiritually doesn’t sit that well with the control-freak in me, although I’m intrigued by many of these (and did enjoy a recent breath-work ‘ceremony’ albeit distracted by being asked to thank the Earth-Goddess and Sky-God). I do know a few anons who use marijuana responsibly and praise its calm-inducing, curiosity-arousing properties as a trigger for ...