I think I’d make a pretty good ghost
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Observing is a lot of work.
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Would it take away the desire to leave my mark?
My short time on this earth leaves me with my relationships built, performances, how I’ve touched the lives of others for good (and any memories of ill), what i’ve formed out of nothing and my presence.
I love love LOVE experiences, but I think even with the pandemic making me a non-body in shows these days, being virtually present but not physically there would get hollow. Even with the “brain in a vat” style all senses engaged identically to being there but not taking up space as a human would affect me as I am now.
I don’t think I’d trade such an intimate connection to art and culture and music and humanity without my ability to flop my tentacles outward and connect with sources of humanity.
I like big dopamine rushes, and even though I’d have unlimited opportunities to get the best of all of that, I would not make the small connections that make a long life worthwhile.
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My guitars have that quality since I settle down with the buying and selling of them. And I hope this is what happens with my electronic stuff especially prophet 10.
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I was just watching this J. Mascis interview and around the 13 minute mark he talks about writing songs while watching TV with his guitar as it helps him to not force it… wonder how many people do that with their synths.
@RhythmDroid you made some very interesting points to mull over. Regarding having a tribe etc… you know how you’d read stories as a kid about artists meeting at cafes on the west bank or in soho or wherever…then you get older and move to a big city perhaps, meet some interesting people and for a few years feel this tingle of finally arriving at someplace which feels dynamic but for me and maybe it’s just me, after a few years of that you realize that you are having none of those conversations with those you surround yourself with, no debates late into the night over those things which perplex you as it seems everyone, yourself included, just want to maintain, have some fun, make more money. Just a different version of the status quo adjusted for a slightly more worldly group of people, yea everyone at the table has tried uni on some occasion and the conversations just becomes background noise and again you find yourself alone in your inner world…or you find yourself on a synthesizer forum perhaps where at least a few people are interested in discussing the questions but you really shouldn’t be spending so much time online, should you…
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You shouldn’t spend time watching tv either, at all if you ask me. 
That same thing made me wonder about it too when I watched this interview about 10 years ago when I played guitar all day every day. It seems like J gets bored easily and is somewhat intelligent yet watches tv, go figure.
edit: I mean I get the idea but wouldn’t prefer it. 
I like to fully focus on what I’m doing.
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Well… at least he’s not like Elvis who would watch like 10 TVs at once while sitting on his sofa all day eating peanut butter and bacon sandwiches…
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Also fond of shooting out the screens on them.
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I like having a movie on with the sound off while messing about.
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Apparently Richard has rescored some of his favorite films.
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I’d be totally happy sitting around all day listening to music, watching films, going to galleries, visiting installations, playing computer games, reading books, trying new foods, day trips to experience new things etc
I’m just happy to have the luxury to produce or consume. A luxury not available to many
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When you think about it aren’t we all just observing the outcome of the chemical and electrical reactions taking place in our mind?
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Well, we are affecting how those chemicals flow by controlling and directing our thoughts. I fail to see it as a passive thing alone. Thinking usually has an active component as well.
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John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats does the same thing (and has written a number of songs based on old Italian horror and action movies as a result)
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This is funny, because I believe in the electron theory. Where you cannot observe it without affecting it.
But I don’t believe anything is unrelated. Everything is connected. So even though we may be passive observers, the mere connection of probability of a system, and our mechanism to observe it are also connected.
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I like it. It’s such a silly, fun, deep subject to fall into - the idea of agency - it feels so tangible, so obvious, and yet under the barist of scrutiny it doesn’t make much sense. The very concept of ‘self’ trickles into other areas of our life in interesting ways.
Reminds me of Alan Watts’ talk on the subject of self - he’s fascinating to listen to even though he can talk a lot of nonsense, there’s gold in there:
Did you ever see a cloud that was misshapen? Did you ever see a badly designed wave? No. They always do the right thing. But if you will treat yourself—for a while—as a cloud or wave, and realize that you can’t make a mistake whatever you do, because even if you do something that seems to be totally disastrous, it will all come out in the wash somehow or other… Then through this capacity, you will develop a kind of confidence. And through confidence you will be able to trust your own intuition. This is the middle way of knowing that it has nothing to do with your decision to do this or not. Whether you decide that you can’t make a mistake, or whether you don’t decide it, it’s true anyway. You are like cloud and water. And through that realization, without overcompensating in the other direction, you will come to the point where you begin to be on good terms with your own being, and to be able to trust your own brain.
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Yes! That’s why I embrace naivety.
Plus I feel that I touched on this very concept in a very oblique kind of way.
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