Humans have been creating artistic works for many, many centuries. Some humans have an urge, a drive, a compulsion to create artistic works. This is wonderful and beautiful and makes the world a better place.

Many other humans, who may or may not have that same urge, have an urge to admire, interact with, or otherwise “consume” those artistic works. But that word, consume, is disgusting so we’ll refrain from using it in this context.

However, there is no doubt an appetite for creative works. A large appetite, as it turns out! This is great. Creative humans find that the very things they find worth creating, others find worth acquiring, and so perhaps money or other forms of compensation is exchanged, and the cycle can continue.

And then! Something notices that money as it moves. The Machine takes notice, as it must, of the movement of that money. The Machine thinks to itself “ah, I see money moving and I like money! I want that money.”

And so the Machine examines what the money is being exchanged for, and as the Machine is wont to do, begins to imitate the creative works.

And the Machine sometimes is good at imitation! And other times it’s just ok at it.

But it turns out that many, many of the people who have an appetite for those creative works can be fooled into thinking that the imitations churned out by the Machine will satisfy that appetite. The Machine is pretty good at doing this fooling, not least because it is a very efficient imitator, and will happily sell these imitations for much less than an artist might like to in order to feed his or her family. The Machine, you see, does not have a family, nor does it want one. The Machine does not want a beautiful chair; the Machine does not want a nice meal with friends; the Machine does not want to pass along well made things to its children. The Machine has no children, will have no children, and cares not for children. The Machine will only grow and feed itself.

And so the Machine takes notice. The Machine begins to spin up. The Machine imitates. The Machine crowds out the artists and eventually all becomes Content.

Content. Content. Content.

What was a creative work becomes Content. The Machine even convinces artists to shift and tweak their creations to fit what the Machine deems appropriate; what the Market will be most willing to Consume.

A clever, creative, and innovative video uploaded to YouTube becomes instead just another piece of Content. Beautiful art becomes Content. All must be made legible to the Machine so that the Machine can sell the Legible Content to the hungry Consumers. The Machine rules all.

So, what shall we do?

Create Art, I think. Refuse to conform to the whims of the Machine.

And yet. And yet!

You might think I sound like a socialist, communist, anarchist, trade unionist, revolutionary, utopian commune dweller, or whatever other counter-cultural left-leaning ideology you prefer.

And I’m not! I’m firmly of the opinion that capitalism is the worst ism, except for all the other isms. I suspect that without capitalism we don’t get abundance and flourishing and widespread access to life-saving drugs and everyday conveniences and plenty of food and and and. I think a reasonably attentive reading of history supports this view.

Of course, as I said, capitalism is the the worst ism except for all the other isms; there are countless failings of this particular economic system. I think it works best when coupled with a deeply empathetic and caring society that chooses to fill the cracks left open, and a society that is intolerant and harshly punishing of corruption and graft.

And still! Capitalism is, no doubt, the Machine I’ve been preaching against.

Although I’m not sure I’m advocating against the Machine; certainly I think it’s good that a pair of decent shoes no longer costs a week’s wages as it might have two hundred years ago.

And yet, the very same Machine that has relentlessly pushed the cost of basic goods down over time will ever continue to seek out new markets, new things to eat, new ways to feed itself and grow. And so the Machine eats art! As it must.

So, I think, the good and moral and right thing to do is to make art, love art, and buy art, whenever you can, in whatever form feeds your soul. Don’t settle for an imitation shat out by the machine on an assembly line of shit that superficially resembles that art. It cannot and will not feed your soul.