Um, it's really just a breakdown of how filters and algorithms run so much of our life now and are sort of sapping us of our taste and our identity. And I want to send it to 20, 35-year me because I think I'm going to be lost in the algorithm, the algorithm and filter world. And I think I'm going to need a, I'm sending this to myself as like, it's like an interstellar when Matthew McConaughey, you know, I don't really still understand how it works, but somehow goes forward and saves himself. This is what I'm doing. I'm throwing myself a lifesaver, uh, in 2035 to pull me out of my algorithm algorithm, algorithmically designed life, which I feel like might be inevitable. That's

a great choice. Uh, also enjoyed Kyle Chaka's book. He was a guest on the podcast earlier this year. I thought that was one of your better interviews. Um, really thoughtful, guy and I think ahead of this trend of homogenization of everything and it's tough this philosophical conversation for another podcast and another day we can never just have our completely own pure unadulterated taste because we are shaped by everything that's around us i think chica's point which i very much agree with is it used to be like a more background context and now the context is just like completely in your face always um and i think it doesn't just affect us as consumers but even more dangerous is the producers of the content are all homogenizing around the same thing and it's whatever the algorithm wants to go viral um so i think like i see this in in the genre of books that steve and i write that increasingly books are becoming more hallmarky and they're like full of like these like pithy sayings and like images inserted throughout the book and stuff and the book kind of reads like an instagram feed not like a book yeah yeah um yeah and i think if like one out of every five books is like that then like it's interesting and it's different and it's novel but now every book is like that. And there's a lack of depth. Yeah. And I'm, I'm trying not to have that penetrate my own writing. Well, at the same time, wanting a book that is Instagrammable because like, that's a book that's going to sell and people are going to read. So, um, I think at best, like you hear what the algorithm is saying and then you deduce like, is this garbage or is there some signal here? But then it's got to come back to, like, your voice and what you want to do. And if you lose touch with your voice and what you want to do, like, then you're no longer making creative work. You're just pandering to an algorithm. And all roads there lead to a 10-second video of you flexing your six-pack or, you know, shaking your chest or whatever it is, that is just the candy that is on the internet. And it would suck if art becomes that. Yeah.

I think the point that he makes, I think he calls it content capital, but I think his point is like people who creators now can't just make great content. They have to consider how can this content be packaged and capitalized on for the algorithm which like you know people of all creators have always had to think about marketing in some extent but i think the upshot of this is like the algorithm is panders to maybe the worst kind of content so it makes it very hard to make quality content but i don't know maybe that's sort of a intellectually lazy take and like no

i mean i don't think so i always use the analogy if this goes back to the practice of groundedness which is now gosh over three years old um but in that book i i talk about like brown rice and wholesome food versus skittles and candy and how you always feel better when you eat brown rice and wholesome food over the long term. And literally it builds your body in a better way than Skittles. But in the moment, especially if you're hungry, you're always going to choose the Skittles. And I use that as a metaphor for the content that we consume and the content that we produce. And think about it. A memorable meal at a wonderful restaurant, you're going to have to potentially dress a certain way for it. You're going to have to think about it in advance to get a reservation. It's going to be a slower meal. They're probably going to ask you to put away your device. And you're going to have to be really present to enjoy that meal. And it might be three courses, and the salad might not be really filling, and you might have to wait an hour and a half for the main course. But at the end of that meal, that's a meal that you're going to remember probably for the rest of your life. But I'll tell you what, if you're starving, and you're on the way to that dinner, and someone's like, here, let's get some Bojangles, you're going to stop and eat the Bojangles and you're going to miss out on the great meal. And eventually you won't even have the capacity to enjoy the great meal because you're going to be still conditioned to just needing Bojangles. That's a good, that's the, that's a

great point right there.

And that's my fear with all of this is that all of us are just being habituated to Bojangles and we're going to miss out on great meals. And obviously, I'm not talking about just food. I'm talking about art, writing. I mean, to some extent, even sport. How many people now just watch the five-minute YouTube highlight of a game? And I think something is missed when you don't watch the whole game. Now, regular season baseball and regular season basketball can be a drag. Don't get me wrong. I'm not being critical. I watch plenty of those YouTube highlights. And it's just the homogenization and the Bojanglesification of everything.