Craft in an age of More
Something about boundaries
I’ve written previously about the myth of the Wetiko, the mythical beast whose appetite increases proportionately to what it consumes and is enraged by always hungry. It brings out the mimetic in us - wanting more not because we really want more, but rather because those around us want more, and so we can’t help ourselves: we must want more too.
There’s a paradox in living in a time when there is an abundance of material things and a paucity of the things that give meaning to our lives. This paradox is compounded when those who have the most seem the least satisfied
In my work, we refer to the inverted U curve of performance. Initially proposed by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson in 1908, the theory proposes that performance increases with arousal up to an optimal point, after which it declines. It has been picked up and extended by Daniel Kahneman, Malcolm Gladwell, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and the founder of modern Coaching, Sir John Whitmore. Their work all points in the same direction: stress is motivational up to a point - “eustress” but peaks, and if it becomes chronic, with prolonged exposure to stressors, it can lead to serious health issues like burnout and anxiety.
Yet we live in a culture that worships more, tolerates unhealthy levels of stress in pursuit of it, and is prepared to sacrifice people and the planet on the altar of performance. We also have new technology that, if misused, will compound the pressure.
We have a choice: follow the bouncing ball of performance until we are exhausted and fall by the wayside, or harness our human abilities to generate wealth on a much broader spectrum than our current miserable measures permit.
We cannot compensate for a deficit of what makes being human such a privilege, from meaning and purpose to poetry and philosophy, by acquiring a surplus of what doesn’t. We need our boundaries, where we can live lives worth living outside the walls of what have become feudal organisations focused on toxic rather than generative growth.
In my last Outside the Walls post, I ended with four aspects that will be important this year: choosing a domain to master, the people and ideas we surround ourselves with, patience, and an ability to curate. There’s a fifth: being selective about who we want to serve. Each of these is a boundary. Inside each, we work on our terms and collectively create lives of service to those we choose to serve. It’s not some fluffy ideal: The whole point of boundaries is to have a platform that supports us so that we can explore beyond them. The essential aspect is that inside the boundary, we are mutually supportive.
Technology in general, and AI in particular, enables and encourages us to go far beyond our boundaries of competence to appear more skilled and competent than we are in reality. Whether it’s assisted driving technology in an expensive sports car, ChatGPT in writing missives that make us appear more knowledgeable and fluent than we are, or extraction technology that enables us to plunder the earth for resources that we cannot replace, technology is a double-edged sword.
Used inside the boundaries of the domain we chose to master; it is a gift; used outside it, it is a massive risk to our integrity. We become imposters who cannot deliver what we promise without the support of tools we do not understand. The technology uses us, rather than us the technology.
This is why being selective about who we choose to serve matters so much. What we make or create for them is part of a relationship founded on our understanding of them and their trust in us. There are no false promises or unreasonable expectations. Together, we may move forward more slowly, but we do so more generatively.
We experience and harness the eustress that promotes healthy growth and avoid the chronic stress that destroys us in pursuit of mythical beasts like Unicorns.
Communities are in transition. Over time, we have moved from Bands to Tribes, Chiefdoms, Early States, Empires, nation-states, and... what?
When we talk of “globalised societies”, the components are far from clear. Countries have a place but are no longer the locus of the cultures they once were. Corporate Interests muddy their politics, and their boundaries cannot prevent migration or manage communication. Social media and Supply Chains weave through them, eroding the idea of national economies in the way that dry rot destroys buildings.
It will be interesting to see how our sense of belonging finds a home as the concepts and stories we used to rely on dissolve and evolve.
Culture is the lens through which we interpret our world and communicate with each other. It shapes individual and collective identities, influences social behaviour, and provides a sense of continuity and belonging in an ever-changing world. It gives us somewhere to belong and is a fundamental need - somewhere we are recognised, heard, and contribute.
The next Outside the Walls/New Artisans open Zoom call will be at 5 pm UK on Wednesday, 15th Jan. I’ll send links and reminders before, but you may want to pop it into your diary…
Craft is a culture of creating; an expression of who we are as individuals and where we belong, and every job has an element of craft to it. It is to be found in the places where technology cannot reach, in the arts of service and the bonds of relationships, and it weaves its way through the artificial boundaries created by the labels we give things, from countries to corporations.
Craft, I suspect, is one of the fundamental building blocks of communities.
When the world around us is changing, whatever we do, identifying the craft in it that technology cannot replace and committing to it seems like a worthwhile exercise.
Choose a domain to be Master of. Something that involves creation, rather than the smoke and mirrors of rentier business models. Make something that matters, that makes a contribution to others, and that you would be happy to explain to your grandchildren.
Choose the company you keep, the people and information that will shape your practice in the years to come, those you can trust and support and who will return that with generosity.
Don’t rush. Craft takes time. It is clear already that working with AI, and eventually AGI, will be a craft for the next era.
Seek and provide Curation. Be a source of wisdom and authority for those you serve, and find those who you can trust to curate for you. This week’s issues with Apple Intelligence and the abrogation of responsibility for content by Meta tell their own story.
Choose who to Serve. They will amplify the work you do.