Fragments on fantastic frictions
Hi again, it's been a minute....
I landed in LA on Friday morning, and I was collected from the airport by a very dear friend which if you know anything about the nature of LA traffic, is a huge inconvenience, and not something I take for granted at all.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature and necessity of friction, inconvenience and discomfort, particularly as many elements of life become increasingly frictionless.
There are certain things in life that absolutely should be frictionless (I realised at Melbourne airport that I had forgotten my laptop charger, and I had one delivered to my friend’s LA address before I arrived), but there’s also a lot of value in embracing the things that aren’t.
Friction is what generates energy, it generates connection, compassion, insight, and ultimately mastery.
I’ve been studying thoughtless futures - which is how the future is being created through every interaction, whether they’re considered or not. Friction, and our relationship to it, is likely to be something that is likely to have a greater impact on how we interact with the world in the coming years.
Community is friction
As people connect and socialise with each other more online, alongside the valorisation of a culture where the best plans are cancelled plans, putting yourself out for other people feels quite inconvenient. The shape of modern life seems to send out a signal that if you’re not showing up perfectly then it’s better to not show up at all, particularly when it’s a rainy day, and traffic is involved. But if the relationships matter, maybe it’s better to show up tired, mildly grumpy, with the frustrations of the work day lingering over you.
If vulnerability is key to building relationships, and you don’t show up in these moments, all you are left with are relationships (romantic and otherwise) that are closer to situationships, lacking depth or loyalty.
A recent house move and injury has led to me (briefly, I hope) becoming the inconvenient friend, which can create its own kind of anxiety around asking and expecting too much of others. But, the flip side of all of this, is that a number of relationships have deepened through my friends showing up with pastries, paintbrushes, coffees and flowers.
Dancing in the rain
But it’s not all crisis and labour, the super talented Noelle flew down from Sydney to see Charli xcx with me at Laneway Festival. The night we saw her was a rare night of torrential rain. We were dancing like maniacs, while the nearby Gen Z’ers clad in Brat green hoodies were complaining about getting wet (not v. Brat Summer). I died a little inside when I heard one girl lament that she could be at home eating Nutella on toast and watching a film. As good as seeing Charli xcx was, the memory becomes memorable through the challenges - dancing in the rain, being huddled under umbrellas in the VIP section during Barry Can’t Swim.
Writing is thinking (Qui scribit, bis legit)
As generative AI is becoming increasingly prevalent and useful, there’s an opportunity to outsource a lot of things to those tools. And while this is not a polemic against AI (I LOVE AI, it’s letting me do so many new things), it’s important to consider where and how you use it. For me, writing is thinking, so by outsourcing my writing to ChatGPT also means outsourcing my thinking, which I think (lol), is the thing that makes me good at the work I get paid to do. Similarly, the rise of transcription and summary tools means that the opportunity for critical thinking in that process is being lost, and there needs to be an active consideration of the trade offs (speed vs depth) when using these tools. A friend was talking to me about setting up a newsletter where the links are pulled and summarised using AI, which made me cringe (for better or worse, this whole thing has been typed by me, for you).
Beginning again and again
A friend sent me this video on instagram and it reflects a conversation I keep having with people, when your work in a creative/creative adjacent fields, it’s easy for passion projects to become ambitions and for there to be a desire to monetise all of the aspects of your creativity. But there’s something really nice about having activities that you suck so hard at that you know definitively that you will never ever be able to monetise. For me, it’s surfing and salsa dancing.
The thrill of the chase
For some reason, my algo has been throwing up videos of people hunting to get their Hermes grail bags. In my humble opinion, aspiring to own one of these tells me that you’re rich, not that you’re stylish. But if Hermes is one of the most aspirational brands, getting a bag is one of the most friction-rich processes, it says something about the nature of desire, and waiting a year to get the thing that you actually want. It’s not just at the top end of the market, there were significant queues for mini Trader Joe’s tote bags last week in NYC.
Holding space for:
The Santino Stool: Eastwing Studio
Bought this on a whim, still trying to find the perfect location for it in the house.
Shocked that this wasn’t sold out - will be posting with abandon on Instagram later.
Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?
“And it was so patient,” she said. “I was asking it about the history of attention, but five minutes in I realized: I don’t think anyone has ever paid such pure attention to me and my thinking and my questions . . . ever. It’s made me rethink all my interactions with people.”
An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here’s How to Survive
How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark
The Comfortable Life is Killing You
IRL friends, I’m currently people watching at Intelligentsia coffee in Silver Lake. In LA until Wednesday, then Houston until the weekend. HMU