Why creating is crucial to human existence | Godfrey Reggio, Steve Albini, and Fred Armisen

Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, rock icon Steve Albini, and comedian Fred Armisen told us the meaning of life:
This video is an episode from ‪@The-Well‬, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@JohnTempletonFoundation‬.
Subscribe to The Well on KZbin ► bit.ly/thewell-youtube
Watch the full podcast now ► • Dispatches from The Well
In this episode of Dispatches from The Well, Kmele Foster continues his search for the meaning of life inside the minds of some of the world’s most creative visionaries.
Godfrey Reggio revolutionized film with his experimental documentaries. Steve Albini is preserving the spirit of music by committing to analog recording. Fred Armisen turned his creativity into a career by combining his passion for music and comedy. Kmele sat down with each of these creators and asked them about the “why” behind their existence.
From sitting behind the camera to stepping in front of it, these artists have found meaning in their lives by committing to the things that, in simple terms, are the most fun. Join us as we explore the perspectives of these “rebellious creatives” in episode six of Dispatches from The Well.
Read the video transcript ► bigthink.com/the-well/dispatc...
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About Kmele Foster:
Kmele Foster is a media entrepreneur, commentator, and regular contributor to various national publications. He is the co-founder and co-host of The Fifth Column, a popular media criticism podcast.
He is the head of content at Founders Fund, a San Francisco based venture capital firm investing in companies building revolutionary technologies, and a partner at Freethink, a digital media company focused on the people and ideas changing our world.
Kmele also serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
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Read more from The Well:
Actually, neuroscience suggests “the self” is real
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can illuminate the debate over generative AI
► bigthink.com/the-well/mary-sh...
Few of us desire true equality. It’s time to own up to it
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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.
Together, let's learn from them.
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[@x77punk77x]

R.I.P. Steve Albini (1962-2024) 🖤🖤🖤

[@williampicard818]

I can't believe we can have that kind of quality content for free!

[@The-Well]

This is such an incredible compliment! Thanks for watching - we're so happy you're here!

[@gravestone4840]

Our current society and its obsession with money and work is slowly killing the creative urge in people. You can't follow your own dreams when youre busy building one for someone else.

[@ArturoGarzaID]

Most people don’t have dreams, most of them just act on their instincts and later try to convince themselves that they’re in control of their lives.

[@AquarianNick]

Well easy to talk when u have a cushy room in your parents home. What about when someone has to work to get a loan to buy a home and pay bills just to keep a roof and food on the table? Inflataion, education debt, expensive healthcare and housing costs, heavy taxes etc don't allow you to be creative or create for the upcoming generation who do not have trust funds, tax gifts or a home passed on. So hence population decline due to greed of profit for the landlords and corporations and tax lords

[@jonathandraper7065]

@@ArturoGarzaIDMost people do have dreams, but they remain only dreams.

[@gregorypeterson9]

Maybe we're told by society unconsciously what we need to be happy, maybe we're have become unconscious conformist, and make the decision that being creative take time away from being productive and being creative is wasteful when studies show that people are the happiest when creating. Having a creative outlet keeps me sane and at peace be it listening to music, restoring an auto, woodworking etc. Just my two cents.

[@mrnelsonius5631]

I spent the last 10 years recording music and touring as a musician in a band. Racked up millions of streams, have played in front of 10s of thousands of people… came out of it penniless cuz the music industry is awful. I have no regrets. I’m working regular jobs right now to keep a roof and eat. Every day a new song is rattling around in my head and I simply wish I had the time and space to realize it. I’ll never stop looking for my opportunities to create no matter how much the indignities of capitalism interfere. To be human is to create meaning and connection, to solely create profit for some remote asshole is to be a machine. It’s not life

[@TheTuubster]

Creating is simply another form of communication.

[@juanblanco1267]

I Shutdown a restaurant business i ran for ten years a year and a half ago. I’m about to start my second semester of furniture making school

[@Devaghn]

I can’t believe this is free. Invaluable. Thank you. 🙏

[@JamminOTR]

Jebus, what a find. Immediately restarted and watched again. Godfrey's films have been at the top of my favorites list since I found it as a teen in the 90s and it's so great to see an interview with him, he's as genius and cool and artistic as I imagined. Great conversations with everyone, thank you so much for this Big Think Team! This is quality journalism.

[@wesmorton1247]

What Godfrey Reggio said," Does the content of your mind determine your behavior? Or does your behavior determine the content of your mind?" literally short circuited my monkey brain.

[@user-cu5gh6vv8f]

As this ended, I found a smile on my face. Gentle, wise, wonderous. Thank you for Making this film!

[@burakkarabina2195]

Godfrey Reggio?! Wow I'm huge fan of all of his movies and works and I'm delighted to see him here! What an amazing interview truly! I've always searched a interview of him etc but never found one until now!

[@bigthink]

Glad you enjoyed it! Our team had about the same reaction getting the chance to hang out in his studio for a day. 😍

[@burakkarabina2195]

@@bigthink 😯 lucky for you to meet with those great people :) Thank you for this unique effort :)

[@invox9490]

Dear The Well, please do a full lentgh Godfrey Reggio interview. You know, the one with the white screen pulled up on the background, he SO deserves it. TY

[@letylove]

Yessss pleeease 🙋🏽‍♀️

[@pitot1988]

This series is too complex and deep for majority of the population, don't feel bad when the view number is low for now, hopefully, this will become viral in a decade or so. This type of work is way ahead of its time.

[@niftyskates85]

Your putting yourself too high on a mantle. The algorithm dictates a lot for the views.

[@CarbonSolutions]

This is really beautiful. It’s a rare balance between intentional precision and complete randomness. I’ve really been enjoying your content. There’s something about the comparative nature of having 3 different people discuss the same ideas from different perspectives that really fleshes out the nuance of the topic. Thanks and bravo!

[@thedoorhitmeonhiswayout]

I recommended this video to friends who I believed needed an excited needle pointing into a positive direction for 2024.

[@yummygummy2133]

Man i didnt even know who these guys were before this video but holy shit i have HELLA deep respect for their commitment to their respective crafts and their overall creativity!

[@noi000]

Wow, that first guy looked and lived as the definition of an artist!

[@sharongillesp]

MORE, MORE, MORE of these creatives!!!!!!!

[@krishnapartha]

This is like old tv programs. I love it.

[@observingsystem]

This was beautiful and inspiring! Something I'd like to add is this: I was thinking I'd like to call it a "midlife reboot" instead of a "midlife crisis", because it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

[@Cdubb1967]

I have been a big fan of Steve Albini's work since the late 80s, what a treat!

[@NarayananShiv]

Please spend even more time with sir Godfrey Reggio. Its great to hear words from him.

[@tamaragorman7421]

YES!! Make art... more art, good art. Thank you for this inspirational episode, BT

[@em945]

Did not want this to end. Thank you for such pleasure.

[@o9brian]

This is one of the best things I’ve seen on the internet in a LONG time. Thank you!

[@calebogden]

Chaos vs Complexity opens new doors, Order vs Simplicity

[@jaynotjoe7589]

Great watch, all three of them are tremendously interesting, the funeral service was hilarious, it reminded me Elizabeth Taylor, she wanted to be late for her own funeral-so she was, her body was deliberately held back until everyone was seated and sad and then they brought her in, and I think the Priest said:’well, she always said she’s going to be late for her own funeral one day. I’d like my gravestone to read, ‘here lies Joe, buried alive. 😁

[@DocFaust]

This is definitely one of the most important KZbin videos I’ve ever seen. So many jewels in this video.

[@demi0225]

I loved this video. I needed to hear this today as i forget to live in the present moment and actually embrace life and what makes us happy. Thank you!

[@DaphneAndTheFuzz]

wow what a masterpiece! definitely coming back to this again. thanks, these interviews are important for our lives

[@fraktalfox]

This has got to be the most profound episode for me. Such a deep & insightful conversation, it really moved me. Thank you.

[@danielle.moore.22]

Loved these interviews! ❤

[@zacharycharmaine5903]

Been a fan a while. Ido like these episodes with this host he does a great job

[@ronami3176]

Thank you for doing these videos! Your choice of topics and interview partners is superb! Godfrey Reggio’s work was always such a huge inspiration. Glad to see him still working!!

[@malloid]

Please release the full interview with Steve Albini - seems like there must be more to it!

[@danielcharlesfilms2897]

Everyone involved in the making of this should be very proud. Such a great piece. My favourite part was when he describes how he wanted his funeral to be. With the coffin and to have the organ being played. Really amazing people.

[@normapadro420]

Hello everybody. I learned at the age of 8 years old that I could create pictures with a camera. I was hooked. I never told my mother, or anyone about how I loved creating art with that camera. I also enjoyed coloring books as well. Later I decided to use rulers, cups, coins, and anything else to create shapes on paper. Before I knew it I was creating my own designs then coloring them. Today I use my art work on my book covers, and covers for my music albums. I'm also a music composer as well. I'm into visual, and audio arts.😊

[@aaronedgeart]

Well presented Kmele, and a solid lineup of respectable characters.

[@MaisyDaisy333]

This was awesome and inspirational. The interviewer did a fantastic job! Thank you for sharing this! ❤

[@chantalrochon3566]

Love love love this video, documentary ❤❤❤❤Thank you for creating this work😊

[@yvngarmz5984]

Thank the universe for this video. Such profound ideas shared between artistic legends!

[@wxyzmarkus6834]

A 31 minutes commitment that is totally worth it!!

[@pandaparad0x]

THOREAU hahahhhaha i was so ready for FRED's quote drop

[@nerd26373]

Creating helps us stimulate our minds and broaden our ideas and interests. If not for creating, we wouldn't have made much impactful improvements and constantly paving the way for more new advancements to take place in modern society.

[@omarlopez1372]

Literally watched this video the night before the news broke. RIP Steve Albini

[@cosmicsalmons]

Beautiful, inspiring, heartwarming piece of work. Thankyou for sharing your path of exploring.

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

As an artist myself, I think the ultra cluttered mad-scientist style studio is a bit antiquated and actually inhibiting to the creative process. I need my space to be un-cluttered, but I also work big dimension paintings so the space is prerequisite.

[@sarabailey-la2022]

What an amazing interview .. great insight and keep the magic moving !! 😊 god is good 👍

[@jamesdean5095]

This was fantastic, thank you so much. Refreshing, inspiring, and such lovely fellows the lot of you :)

[@carolvivas450]

Wow this was amazing!! Thank you so much for this documentaries ❤

[@wernersbacher]

Thank you, plwase do many many more of those videos. I feel the same right now and this is a chance to get the opinions of interesting people I wpuld never meet in real life

[@michelvondenhoff9673]

Stravinsky, Koyaanisqatsi, Steve Albini all stuff I can relate to.

[@ddrose]

Thank you! This video is very inspirational

[@Grateful-Hedge]

Thank You!

[@traviswadezinn]

Great to see this posted again, good show!

[@leechallenor787]

This is hugely interesting. From their perspective and mine. But I couldn't help noticing Godfrey Reggio mentioned Mania when referring to writing things down and creative aspect. Does he have bipolar? Have research but nothing. I can relate to this with diagnosed with bipolar myself. (And autism). I take medication which surpreses lot of bipolar. But before medication I used to go on creative buzz and load lyrics used to come to the surface. Had write down poems etc. I just saw similarities from this aspect. Anyhow, love these philosophical talks. Brings bit of perspective of what life should be about. ✌️

[@user-qf3tz7fr1g]

thank you fo diz, big think. 🥰😘🤩 'it lewks chaotic but itz actually full of complexity'. me. 🤣🤣🤣 diz was awesomazing, justin. we're all storytellers using watever form we choose to express ourselves. everyone. 💚💎🌟🤗🌹💯💛

[@_Grimblewedge_]

This was excellent. More like this please.

[@ZennyB]

I'm really enjoying the longer content from you guys recently

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

What is the line between art and function? This is what interests me.... And come to think of it Artisan Light Bulbs fit this category! Thank you Portlandia!

[@PhantomRaspberryBlower]

The interview with Goddfrey Reggio was one of the best things i've ever seen on KZbin and i just wanted more. Fred Armisen in comparison sounded completely vacuous and lame. Putting these interviews together on the same video is crazy.

[@Samin-Khan]

All work is individual intuitive efforts is the best I can get from the documentary.

[@LouisKatz]

Beautiful.

[@RetroBreak]

Brilliant video! Very interesting people, and great presentation!

[@amymarch8221]

Perfectly beautiful

[@asdasikdaisncxzinaskdnmf]

MORE CONTENT LIKE THIS MORE CONTENT LIKE THIS MORE CONTENT LIKE THIS (REPEAT THIS BEFORE YOU FILM)

[@GizzyDillespee]

OKAY I REPENT!!! Oh... repeeeeeeat... Okay... I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT I AM MORE CONTENT

[@Yuusou.]

It looks like the subtitles are completely wrong. Mind to fix it, please? They're really helpful for non-native speakers and sometimes contain some fun hidden messages. Edit: Thanks for fixing the subs.

[@metaforically]

A fantastic interviewer! ❤

[@djayall]

Very informative great work.

[@QuickCinemaRecap]

00:09 Consciousness is the fundamental essence of our existence 02:15 The mystery of consciousness remains a tantalizing enigma for scientists and philosophers. 07:02 The explanatory gap between physics and conscious experience 09:06 Panpsychism suggests that consciousness is inherent to all matter. 13:29 Vedanta emphasizes consciousness and its role in human fulfillment. 15:52 Consciousness is primary in understanding existence. 20:06 Artificial intelligence helps understand human intelligence and consciousness. 22:00 Words and language play a crucial role in understanding consciousness. 25:49 Exploring human-machine interaction and the potential of AI 27:55 Intelligence emerges from non-intelligent components 32:14 Consciousness and the collapse of the wave function 34:21 Microtubules as the foundation of consciousness. 38:23 Debating religious and metaphysical perspectives 40:12 Consciousness is not about personal survival, but mental and part of larger conscious.

[@edgarmorales4476]

Our consciousness is the fabric out of which we make our lives. This consciousness fabric is the ground of our every response to every single thing which happens in our mental, emotional and physical lives. Our consciousness is our reality. This statement may be expressed in two ways, both of which are the truth of existence. Our consciousness creates our reality, irrespective of what the actual facts of our earthly life may be. When people believed the earth was flat, they were afraid to venture too far over the ocean lest the ship should fall over the edge. People who believed in a flat earth, lived according to that belief. When Galileo said the earth was round, he was considered a heretic but his perception of the "roundness of the earth" enabled sailors to take a new look at the world and set out to discover what lay the other side of the ocean. It required a change in their belief to make this possible. We are in a similar position. People who discount and ridicule others are like people who believed in a flat earth and were afraid of falling over the edge if they sailed too far to the west or east of their known environment. Their horizons were severely limited by their false beliefs. So are the horizons of people who believe the world to be solid, also severely restricted. Day after day, people lament and grieve over the misfortunes which have befallen the world, believing there is no escape from them. But people who can grasp and welcome the Truth of Consciousness, are like those who perceived that travel on the oceans can be limitlessly undertaken in all directions, as long as they had the will to set out on such a journey. Therefore, our state of consciousness is the most important consideration in our life... not our relationships or possessions or our position in life. We must tend to our consciousness and the blessedness in all aspects of our life will follow. By our consciousness we feed ourselves with inner love and harmony, joy and beauty, even in the backstreets of a slum. With such consciousness, we will find ourselves being removed from the streets of the slum into an environment in keeping with our inner self. So do we climb out of unpleasant circumstances. From the foregoing, we should now be able to see that only we create the "quality" of our internal world, whether we find ourselves externally in prison or in command of a battleship! And we can enhance our surroundings by radiating to them the life force which animates our thinking. Our external life only impinges on our consciousness. It does not - cannot - create or determine our conscious responses. We are the "creator" of our responses. Our type of creation depends entirely on our deepest perceptions and beliefs regarding existence. Our convictions and strongly-held beliefs may be completely illusory but if we fully believe in them in our subconscious, they become absolutely real for us.

[@user-jg1kr7gn3k]

This has made my day and added confirmation to my present direction. Just wow.

[@cimonejae8322]

This is so awesome ❤

[@RaviShankar-ll5wb]

Awesome

[@kulturedmonkey8046]

Absolutely amazing interviews ❤

[@elevenade]

that was great.

[@user-xr1xs1zy2z]

Good thing men are big on innovation, engineering, ingenuity, creation, manual labor, and survival.

[@baovomusic]

Beautiful work, this video

[@LAVISHING]

Absolutely love this!

[@soleaux]

great interviews thank you

[@marycyardley2456]

Excellent!

[@theobserver9131]

This made me realize that I have let go of needing to know the whys of everything. When I was a kid, I had to know why everything. Now I don't feel like there is a why, and if there is I don't care.

[@theobserver9131]

Then you go on to say, here we are and we should do some thing with it. I disagree with that. I don't feel like we're obliged to do anything. If you feel like doing something, do it. If you don't then don't. In the end, the universe doesn't care.

[@theobserver9131]

You could spend your life staring at your big toe, or you could invent the cure for cancer. One is not better than the other. Inventing the cure for cancer is probably more interesting though.

[@GizzyDillespee]

But, why?

[@theobserver9131]

@@GizzyDillespee So clever.

[@holypython4418]

​@@theobserver9131everything you do leads to an chainreaction, in that way the universe kinda cares

[@fastsavannah7684]

That’s a good one bro! And we’re the same age, btw!

[@Chemicator]

Awesome👌

[@Sometimesshutyomouth]

How will people in the future be able to hear how our music sounded like when they won’t have the devices to be able to do so? Can a CD be played without a CD player which by then will be so ancient and outgrown. I have never used a cassette player and if I want to listen to anything from those times I’ll probably search for it on modern databases like KZbin or Spotify . The future is digital and is increasingly rubbing out old forms of technology. But I admire his choice to live life this way

[@CaptainAmerica831]

This was great

[@yed-nadiashihab3748]

Nice and smart !

[@Praveen-or5ce]

That’s actually an interesting question!

[@drkarenbukharibukhari9931]

Iamalsovisionaryintrovertartist🎉

[@mpv9866]

Measwell

[@BH-BH]

I deny the accident (I.e., the chaos) - Jackson Pollock

[@dbencic]

❤

[@winstonoboogie2424]

If I never make a nickel at it, I won't consider myself a failure.

[@williemccray594]

The is a jewel!

[@The-Well]

Thanks for watching! 💎

[@VladShpiro]

"What is most present is least seen"

[@michaelmccomb4045]

Big Black is such good music

[@Reverend-Insanity9]

Interesting

[@harshikaa]

Love your channel! I have one question, why have you uploaded the same video again with a new title?

[@joyannesloan8384]

The title of this video is what intrigued me to click on it but I didn't find that the actual content aligned with it

[@Continentalmunkey88]

Hippies to comic sans font aggregation, because tarmacs matter, truly aggravating

[@Chipop267]

For some it's mid life crisis for others it's mid life transition.

[@kristinadutton3259]

I wish three truly thoughtful artistic people were interviewed. I’m originally from Chicago. These guys are considered counter culture but…Albini and Armisen are a very particular type of “artist” from a very specific time whose thought process feels a bit antiquated.

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

How does art meet function without arbitrary overlapping as status symbols, superfluous trends, or gimmicky bells and whistles?