What's That About?
By Les Mottosky
Mystery isn't a concept that's long tolerated by us dwellers of the Information Age. Light-speed lifestyles, shorter attention spans and an expanding lens of scientism don't leave much room for the seductions of enigma. It seems to have become more annoyance than indulgence. (With the notable exception of escape rooms.)
We should wonder if we’re embracing a collective sense of hubris. Deceiving ourselves with the notion that — with AI at our fingertips — we can know anything, instantly. (And maybe know everything...eventually).
Knowing anything instantaneously — with the delusional possibility of knowing everything on the near horizon — doesn’t leave much room for mystery. Or curiosity. Or boredom.
In other words, the three base ingredients for — and catalysts of — creativity.
Why does that matter?
As others observed and author/researcher Brené Brown later brought to mainstream light, when creativity isn’t expressed in humans, it doesn’t just go unspent, it metastasizes. Creativity is not optional, it’s necessary human fuel. One that must be burned-off or it combusts internally.
The proof of this comes in many forms, including: emotional de-regulation, social isolation and even mental and/or physical illness. The human that doesn’t create, will pivot towards destruction. And not just the person withholding that energy, but those in the blast radius.
If you know someone who is perpetually grumpy, over-bearing, unsettled or carries another type of displeasing social energy, they almost assuredly don’t have a creative outlet. (Test it; go through your mental contacts list. You'll identify them).
This is alarming from the perspective of someone who helps leaders look around corners for potential challenges then develops strategies to help their organizations benefit from what we see. If I was a psychologist, sociologist or someone responsible for the mental health of large groups pf people, I’d be mortified.
But on the other side of alarming and mortifying awaits a massive opportunity.
This Information Age continues to morph. Rapidly. And it's now birthing something that will look like a "meaning economy".
We've arrived at a time where we have more stuff and less meaning than ever. More possessions, more opinions, more entertainment, more distraction and more confusion. This is an indulgence of insignificance, it's unsustainable and it isn't our nature.
The original sparkle and shine of the internet lead us from an Age into an Economy. The Knowledge Economy. Social media built it's rails on top of that, inspiring the explosion of The Experience Economy. (Ex: people no longer went to concerts to just experience live music, they documented and shared themselves experiencing it.) And now – amongst other things – AI will usher in The Meaning Economy.
As a response to soulless, garbage AI content, a new era will arise where individuals share novel perspectives and obscure observations formed from their real world experience. And with those perspectives, they'll do something AI can't: apply creativity that expresses the value discovered in their experience.
That will, in turn, stimulate mystery in others. Then curiosity. If meaning germinates in those people, it'll inspire more creativity. To be crafted for others. And on and on this cycle of significance will roll.
Will this happen for the masses? Probably not. But The Meaning Economy will function as a parallel beacon of reality, quality, sanity, sincerity and the fathomless promise in human creativity.
Creativity is the way of nature and the ultimate gift of the human experience.
And it might be the greatest mystery of all.
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Les Mottosky
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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