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Create More, Consume Less (2021)

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Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#51

Post by sfn42 »

dfxm12 wrote: post #35
krrishd wrote: post #3

every prolific creator i've seen in practice has been a far more indulgent consumer than the average person. that, and in the chicken and egg of inspiration and production, i've found that production is usually wrung out of a surplus of inspiration. it genuinely surprises me how popular and intuitive this "create more than you consume" meme is

Proper creators don't need to be reminded to create. I think this meme is targeting everyone else - anything that gets them to create more is OK, whether the meme is 100% accurate or not. The article says Spending hours watching cooking shows won’t make you a better cook—cooking will . I disagree - there has to be some kind of give and take. You don't want to isolate yourself and try to reinvent the wheel in terms of…

I think that statement is spot on. To draw a parallel, I see people spend hours and hours watching programming videos, and at the end they can't do a thing on their own.

You should spend more time doing the thing than you spend watching videos about the thing. Or at least do the thing regularly. Doesn't mean videos can't help, but I'm pretty sure they feel like they help a lot more than they actually do.

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#53

Post by JohnFen »

Zambyte wrote: post #6
krrishd wrote: post #3

every prolific creator i've seen in practice has been a far more indulgent consumer than the average person. that, and in the chicken and egg of inspiration and production, i've found that production is usually wrung out of a surplus of inspiration. it genuinely surprises me how popular and intuitive this "create more than you consume" meme is

I think the "I've seen" is the key part of your comment. This article is about creating for yourself, not even for consumption by others. It makes sense that you've seen people who create that are also big consumers, because you've seen people who create for consumers. Other creative people may not be so obvious.

> This article is about creating for yourself, not even for consumption by others.

Probably about 75% of everything I create, I create for myself. Nobody else is ever likely to see any of it. The act of creating is its own reward (being able to have and use the thing is a reward as well, of course), and I've found that sharing my creations comes with an inherent cost in terms of time: answering questions, support, or even just people wanting to talk about the thing.

Also, the level of polish I need to put into a thing in order to feel OK about sharing it will easily double the amount of time it will take to create it.

It gets expensive. As a result, I only share those things that I deem important to share.

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#55

Post by johnnyanmac »

namaria wrote: post #20
famahar wrote: post #13

Great article. The last few years I've started making arthouse games which I create for myself, but release for others to enjoy. I don't seek out profit or create for consumers. Many people have sent me messages about how my games have moved them emotionally and how they didn't know games like this could be made. It's been really fulfilling. Part of this creative process was to shift my mind to less of a mindless con…

I appreciate what you're saying here, but I think calling going to museums and reading essays "consuming" is disingenuous. Taking in information (and being in control of what we take in) is very important, but there is very little salvageable information in commercially oriented content venues. Spending time with curated exhibits and texts written for the purpose of reflection is not 'consuming' in the context of cri…

It still is consumption, but I think we can both agree that not all consumption quality is equal. Consuming adorable cat videos* are a pallete cleanser, but doesn't advance you much. Meanwhile, some muesuems can really come out and give a person a wider world view or illuminating perspective of events taken for granted, which may change a person's approach to life.

*Nothing against cat videos, you can also have high quality pet content as well (e.g. learning how to take care of a cat or figuring out their wants/needs. Maybe even getting one of those word mats for a semblance of speech).

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#56

Post by johnnyanmac »

dfxm12 wrote: post #35
krrishd wrote: post #3

every prolific creator i've seen in practice has been a far more indulgent consumer than the average person. that, and in the chicken and egg of inspiration and production, i've found that production is usually wrung out of a surplus of inspiration. it genuinely surprises me how popular and intuitive this "create more than you consume" meme is

Proper creators don't need to be reminded to create. I think this meme is targeting everyone else - anything that gets them to create more is OK, whether the meme is 100% accurate or not. The article says Spending hours watching cooking shows won’t make you a better cook—cooking will . I disagree - there has to be some kind of give and take. You don't want to isolate yourself and try to reinvent the wheel in terms of…

>The article says Spending hours watching cooking shows won’t make you a better cook—cooking will. I disagree - there has to be some kind of give and take.

There's definitely a balance, and as you identify I think the point is to target the extreme that will spend hundreds of hours on cooking videos and no time actually coooking for themselves. At that point it's consumption for consumptions sake than as a means to progress oneself.

But sure, you need to consume to learn as well. No one should go into a terminal and expect to just know all the hundreds of built-in commands (let alone package managers to grab millions more). A manual traditionally doesn't help identify what commands are needed to start gaining proficiency either. That's what courses/tutorials excel in, to make you better at reading those man pages later on after practice with some fundamentals.

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#57

Post by johnnyanmac »

doytch wrote: post #10
Err_Eek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imagine a writer writing more books than they read. imagine a film director directing more movies than they watch. imagine a software engineer writing more code than they read. imagine a musician writing more songs than they listen to. ... etc etc

The units the article is concerned with is time spent, not output. Spend more time creating than you do consuming. The only one of your options examples that doesn’t then make more sense is the software developer, and as a software developer myself, I’m very content with not putting my creativity against those other examples.

In all honesty, I've probably deleted more code than I've written in my career. So I guess I'm a destroyer more than a creator.

I wonder if writing is the same in an attempt to be more concise?

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#58

Post by johnnyanmac »

Anotheroneagain wrote: post #22

This is such a dangerously wise sounding, but selfzdestructive idea. It reminds me of an old torrent site which had the policy to upload more than you download, which lead to a stanstill, as that obviously isn't possible to achieve, and users getting angry at the best uploaders, as they "stole" upload from them... Just imagine what it would look like if everyone on HN posted more than they read.

Funnily enough, the old reddit formality works in reverse and makes some sense. For every post of self promotion, you should make 10 or so posts/comments on non-self promoted content. Consume significantly more than you create (and share), but you still probably end up creating more than average.

I think like most short, quippy adages, the spirit makes sense but not the literal interpretation. It's more trying to say that creation is something to strive for rather than the literal "1:1 consumption/creation", treating it like calories. I'm sure we can make models to make the quote make sense, but we probably shouldn't overanalyze what is mostly motivational ideas.

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#59

Post by uzu_y »

taopai wrote: post #27
uzu_y wrote: post #5

I think consumption is equally important to creation because the latter cannot exist without the former. Furthermore, too much focus on creation is even dangerous because it could lead to this "productivity hell" where you only evaluate your time in terms of productivity.

> Furthermore, too much focus on creation is even dangerous because it could lead to this "productivity hell" where you only evaluate your time in terms of productivity. You don't need to be productive in order to create. I spend at least a joyful hour a day improvising on the piano. I produce nothing in the sense of being "productive". I don't record nor play for others, but nonetheless, I create.

Right, my comparison was rather production vs consumption. Creation is different from production and it can exist without consumption.

Re: Create More, Consume Less (2021)

#60

Post by Anotheroneagain »

navigate8310 wrote: post #39
Anotheroneagain wrote: post #22

This is such a dangerously wise sounding, but selfzdestructive idea. It reminds me of an old torrent site which had the policy to upload more than you download, which lead to a stanstill, as that obviously isn't possible to achieve, and users getting angry at the best uploaders, as they "stole" upload from them... Just imagine what it would look like if everyone on HN posted more than they read.

> an old torrent site which had the policy to upload more than you download This is still how private trackers work

There is no way to make it work. It isn't mathematically possible to achieve. Somebody's cheating, or there is some other way, like people getting kicked and invited continuously.
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