#ted-gioia — Public Fediverse posts

My way?

For me, all these complex valences reach their peak in one song. And you know which one I’m talking about.

Ted Gioia, from “My Way” or the Highway?

slip:4uhopy2.

There was a time—20 years ago, I’d say—when I sang along. It was of course aspirational— or— I’m looking for a word; not quite “aspirational.” I was singing along as if the song in any way represents my actual story. In reality, I’m only acting as if I’d actually tried to do even a few of the things expressed, let alone actually accomplished all the things expressed. Is that posturing? …playacting? …attempting to borrow someone’s bravado?

I’m going to go with: self-deception.

There was a time, not too long ago, when I sang along in self-deception. Now the song reminds me that I’ve never actually even tried to do anything… let alone accomplished anything worth singing about.

ɕ

#JazzMusic
#EuropeanJazz
#JanGabarek
Substack #TedGioia

https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/i-blame-jan-garbarek?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=4lbnua

“I once heard a bootleg tape of #JanGarbarek jamming as a teenager. I couldn’t believe what I heard. He was playing hot #hardbop like he had been born in Philly or New York.” #music #jazz #JazzSky #MusicSky #TedGioia open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia...

I Blame Jan Garbarek

Auszug aus dem empfehlenswerten Buch "The History of Jazz" von Ted Gioia. Im Grunde entstammt die gesamte moderne Musik, wie wir sie heute kennen, dem Zusammentreffen verschiedener Kulturen in New Orleans. Umso absurder ist die Forderung nach 'Kultureller Reinheit' der Rechten. Noch dümmer sind aber letztlich solche Versuche wie 'Rechtsrock'. Aber gut, denen ist eh nicht zu helfen.

#jazz #music #history #tedgioia #musichistory #geschichte #Musikgeschichte #jazzhistory #musik #noafd

A genuine futurist

With the passing years, I’ve come to recognize that this was Ballard’s true calling—not as a writer of imaginative works, but as a genuine futurist. This is even evident in his novels.

~ Ted Gioia, from How Did a Censored Writer from the 1970s Predict the Future with Such Uncanny Accuracy?

slip:4uhopo1.

This is where I admit that I’m not sure if I’ve ever read any of Ballard’s works—although it seems that if I had read them I’d surely remember them?

ɕ

#JGBallard #TedGioia

Ted Gioia has written a powerful article about Brian Wilson, being different, and why a salvaged brick from the high school he and Brian both attended is one of his most treasured objects.

If you've ever felt different (raising my hand) you will identify.

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/brian-wilson-is-my-brick

#BrianWilson
#TedGioia

Was pop culture better when you were a kid?

https://think.kera.org/2025/05/30/was-pop-culture-better-when-you-were-a-kid/

#SpencerKornhaber #KERA #KrysBoyd #Podcasts #TedGioia

Two types of human systems

When looking for similar feedback loops in human interactions, Bateson saw that they didn’t always exist, or operate in the way they should. As a result, he recognized that there were two kinds of systems: ones that relied on feedback to create stability, and others that tended to escalate and create runaway trends.

~ Ted Gioia, from Why Gregory Bateson Matters

slip:4uhopy1.

I will admit this is the first I’ve ever heard of Bateson, and based on Gioia’s article, I seriously considered buying his Steps to an Ecology of Mind. I definitely recommend reading Gioia’s article.

ɕ

#Books #GregoryBateson #TedGioia

"Our single best hope is a cooperative streaming platform owned by labels and musicians. Let’s reclaim music from the technocrats. They have not proven themselves worthy of our trust."

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-ugly-truth-about-spotify-is-finally

#Music #Streaming #TedGioia #Musicians #Musodon

Embrace for an ever increasing flood of #Alslop

👇🏽

"...There’s very little transparency in AI right now. For example:
- It’s hard to figure out which new books on Amazon are AI generated. Nobody wants to tell you.
- It’s hard to figure out which songs on the streaming platforms are AI generated. Nobody wants to tell you.
- It’s hard to figure out which news articles are AI generated. Nobody wants to tell you.
Do you notice a pattern?
..."

via #TedGioia

https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/why-are-huge-tech-companies-getting

'MUSK's Cybertruck is the perfect vehicle fr a zombie apocalypse.'

It's a bigger problem than just one sinister-looking car...it tells us abt the corruption of aesthetics in our time. And they really matter...

#LeonardSchlain key pt in his book The Art of Physics makes the case that aesthetics LEAD the shaping of our REALITY...not reflect or follow it. #TedGioia key pt: 'the Cybertruck replaces beauty w/ power.' No nuance, subtlety or any humanizing elements whtsoever.

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/why-is-the-tesla-cybertruck-so-depressingly?utm_source=substack&publication_id=296132&post_id=151178502&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=42dbf&triedRedirect=true

From the Attention Economy to the Addiction Economy

Editor’s note: this post was originally published on February 22, 2024. It has been updated and refreshed. 

Food Barker: “Right here, boys! Right here. Get your cake, pie, dill pickles and ice cream. Eat all you can. Be a glutton. Stuff yourselves. It’s all free, boys, it’s all free. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Tobacco Row Barker: “Tobacco Row, Tobacco Row. Get your cigars, cigarettes, and chewin’ tobacco. Come in and smoke your heads off! There’s nobody here to stop you!”

Model Home Barker: “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry! See the model home. It’s open for destruction and it’s all yours, boys, it’s all yours!”

In an iconic segment from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) – the animated film based on Carlo Collodi‘s book – the villainous Coachman lures young rebellious boys to Pleasure Island. There, they are free to eat all the sweets they want, drink beer, smoke cigars (!!!) and destroy everything in their sight. The cursed island eventually turns these mischievous boys into donkeys… that are then sold to the circus or to salt mines to do labor.

As soon as Pinocchio’s “conscience” Jiminy Cricket surveils the scene, he grows alarmed: “Pinocchio? Pinocchio! There’s something phony about all this. I gotta get him outta here!”

In Italian culture when you call someone a donkey (“asino”) it means the person in question is ignorant, foolish and irresponsible.

I think Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island may be an apt metaphor for the current state of the internet – with Big Tech exploiting human weaknesses and our penchant for pleasure and distraction to turn us all into donkeys.

From the “attention economy” to the “addiction economy”

For over two decades we have heard about the “Attention Economy”… what a rare commodity our attention is and how it’s being exploited and manipulated by platforms and devices – by design – to expose us to ads, make us click and buy things.

Wired magazine first talked about the attention economy in the article “Attention Shoppers!” that ran in December 1997. Its subheader read: “The currency of the New Economy won’t be money, but attention.”

For over twenty years, tech platforms’ engineers have been working in tandem with psychologists to optimize workflows and users’ behaviors, keeping eyeballs on screens for as long as possible.

In his thought-provoking book Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now computer scientist Jaron Lanier wrote:

Now everyone who is on social media is getting individualized, continuously adjusted stimuli, without a break, so long as they use their smartphones. What might once have been called advertising must now be understood as continuous behavior modification on a titanic scale.

Earlier in the week I came across an essay by Ted Gioia that brilliantly describes the state of the internet and our culture in this brave new online world.

A passage that stood out to me and has been haunting me ever since reading it:

The tech platforms aren’t like the Medici in Florence, or those other rich patrons of the arts. They don’t want to find the next Michelangelo or Mozart. They want to create a world of junkies—because they will be the dealers. Addiction is the goal. They don’t say it openly, but they don’t need to. Just look at what they do. Everything is designed to lock users into an addictive cycle.

Summarizing Gioia’s superb essay feels criminal. You need to read it for yourselves from start to finish. Here it is: “The State of the Culture, 2024″.

And if you have an extra ten minutes, you can’t miss this essay by Gurwinder: “TikTok is a Time Bomb (The ultimate weapon of mass distraction)”.

A ray of light

As bleak as these views may seem, there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel: another way of being, of thinking, and of spending time.

I’d love to share with you a new habit I have formed that is rewiring my brain to spend more time reading long articles over bite-sized social media or Reddit posts.

Inspired by an essay by Justin Hanagan – A Well Curated RSS Feed Reader is a Wonderful Substitute for Social Media – I added all the newsletters and blogs I read to an RSS feed reader (Feedly in my case). This way, I can find writings by all my favorite authors in one place, without having to scour the “newsletter” tab of my email account.

As Hanagan wrote:

A well-curated RSS reader can scratch that same ‘Just show me something interesting’ itch, minus most of the addictive and emotionally triggering content that literally fuels the big social media sites. It also can be an important stepping stone to spending less time online overall.

The RSS feed is a world of its own – it feels like a boxed experience, with no temptations to click on something else and get sucked into a time consuming rabbit hole. It’s an experience in line with my values, as it gives me the impression of learning things, thinking deeply, as I am engrossed in long articles by my favorite writers. Social media posts by comparison – as witty as they may be – suddenly feel like junk food, lacking any nourishment. The feeling is perfectly encapsulated by this illustration by Justin Hanagan’s Stay Grounded:

Just like in Disney’s Pinocchio, I feel like I may have successfully escaped from Pleasure Island just in time.

And now whenever I feel tempted to scroll through Reddit or check social media for more than 10 minutes, I think of Pinocchio’s donkeys. And that immediately suppresses any desire for distraction and escapism.

As always, thanks for being here.

Elena

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#addictionEconomy #attentionEconomy #Feedly #JaronLanier #JustinHanagan #Pinocchio #RSSFeeds #socialMedia #StayGrounded #TedGioia #TikTok

https://therealists.org/?p=7952

好萊塢外包的小說家 - FUTURE NOTE

Link

Ted Gioia is always worth a listen/read I think. Thought I'd post this link in case anyone finds it interesting.

Ted Gioia on AI's threat to music and stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibMd_Jx9daw

#TedGioia

“I’m suspicious of government, but I’m even more suspicious of new tech that aims to serve a tiny number of private individuals. Believe it or not, it’s actually easier to change the President or political regime than replace Mark Zuckerberg at Meta. (I’m not exaggerating, he literally cannot be fired by the Board, or anyone else.)” #TedGioia https://www.honest-broker.com/p/10-reasons-why-technological-progress

“For the first time since the dawn of the Renaissance, innovation is now feared by the vast majority of people. And the tech leaders, once admired and emulated, now rank among the least trustworthy people in the world.” #TedGioia https://www.honest-broker.com/p/how-did-silicon-valley-turn-into

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ibMd_Jx9daw&si=gXNQNl37AaAlCXVv // this was a great conversation between #TedGioia and #RickBeato

when #Creatives become mere #ContentGenerators...

via #TedGioia

"...How can you tell if somebody in the #music business wants to replace musicians with #AI?

The first clue is that they describe music as #content (ugh!). The second is that they’re delighted that millions of tracks are now generated—the bosses no longer use the word composed—for next to nothing. ..."

Spotify CEO:

Will there be a shift to the #Fediverse when the #creators are fed up with #YouTube and the likes?
What would it take.. a diminishing in pay per stream?
Most creators are kinda locked in..

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/in-2024-the-tension-between-macroculture

#microculture #macroculture #TedGioia #HonestBroker #SubStack

In this conversation #TedGioia really gets into the interactive process between reading & writing. The reading is 'fuel in the tank' that feeds the writing.

Fantastic playlist of Ted Gioia’s 12 Immersive Albums on Apple Music

Be sure to subscribe to his newsletter at https://www.honest-broker.com

(Had to substitute the Art of Fugue recommendation as Ted’s wasn’t on Apple Music)

#TedGioia #AppleMusic #music
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/ted-gioia-12-immersive-albums/pl.u-NP0RWI1N6r

Tuesday #DailyTracks: Here's #RickBeato and ##TedGioia doing a sort of wide ranging #StateOfTheUnion for creative industry and content producers. I found this interesting because some of us in our wanderings find another niche in terms of non publicly held private work where it doesn't matter if you have fifty or five million followers.The question then is do you really need to do anything else ? They answer that even though it's not strictly speaking "on the menu"
https://youtu.be/ibMd_Jx9daw?si=3NF2Jy0TexZwvmgs

Great read… Well actually it’s not but worth reading. “I’m increasingly encountering listeners who praise a track on the radio or a playlist—‘I love that song’ or ‘That’s one of my favorites,’ a fan will declare—but if I ask for the name of the tune or the artist, they don’t have a clue.” #music #spotify #artist #substack #TedGioia #music #musician #MastoMusic #FediMusic https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/the-rise-of-the-anonymous-music-star?r=1yql3m&utm_medium=ios

Here's the link to Ted's list and comments. Check it out and subscribe too!

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/9-new-albums-im-recommending-right

#tedgioia #music #applemusic #timolassy #jukkaeskola #Oscilan #FabianodoNascimento #SamGendel #franceschang #HeidiRadtke #UlyssesOwens #LesleeSmucker #KrzysztofFirlus #MarikaHackman

Very nice collection of 9 albums recommended by Ted Gioia. I made a playlist of the recordings for Apple Music. The Krzysztof Firlus version of the The Drexel Manuscript, so I included the Petr Wagner version instead.

"I stray off the beaten path in search of righteous music you won’t hear about elsewhere.

I’m not deliberately trying to be obscure. But it works out that way. The best music nowadays comes mostly from tiny indie labels and self-produced albums. It flourishes in unexpected places—and often gets distributed without a marketing campaign, or even a press release.”

#tedgioia #music #applemusic
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/ted-gioia-9-albums-mar-7-2024/pl.u-WM243iry90

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024

The State of the Culture, 2024 by #TedGioia is a great read. #NeilPostman #AmusingOurselvesToDeath vibes.

#Art #Entertainment #Engagement #Attention #ADHD #Distraction #Retention #Gamification #SocialMedia #TechGiants #TikTok #Facebook #Instagram #YouTube #ExtendedReality #Apple #Dopamine #Addiction #Depression #Anxiety #Anhedonia #BraveNewWorld #LateStageCapitalism