On “Escape Wage Slavery” video - questions about providing massive value

[Theprofessional]

I’m mid 20’s, becoming highly educated. I watched Leo’s video on this a few years ago and have watched it repeatedly, taken notes on it, really committed myself to implementing these lessons in my life.

Leo suggests to “become a massive value provider” in society. My whole life I have been hugely passionate about filmmaking. And now that I have a decent level of education, I have gained major insights into how filmmaking works, things that really impress my professors and so on.

I was dead set on providing massive value to society through films. But also through my education, I came to realize that literature actually provides far more value than films do, because literature is the raw component of what a film is made from.

So for the last couple years I’ve been relentlessly studying all kinds of literature, breaking it down, trying to understand the essential elements so I can create it myself. I have been trying to convince myself to shift to this, because - following Leo’s advice - I want to create as much value as I can.

But the problem is - I don’t enjoy the process of creating literature. I love the process of making a film, no matter what. Even if it’s literally just me in a room filming running water or something, I get this electric charge from it. It feels like I’m connecting with my actual authentic self, I get this rush that gives me a fearlessness.

I’ve been guilt tripping myself about this, working to suppress it, because this passion is the “lesser” of these two things. And I’ve been trying to force making literature to become my passion for the last couple years instead of films, but it isn’t working. What should I do? Thanks.

[Basman]

You should just focus on what your most passionate about. This seems like a simple and obvious dilemma.

34 minutes ago, Theprofessional said:

literature is the raw component of what a film is made from.

I don't see how literature is the be all, end all of storytelling. Books are just one medium. Verbal storytelling has been the number one way for how people share stories before we where literate or had access mass media. Doesn't make it better than other storytelling mediums inherently. Its just a matter of what medium fits in peoples lives and currently movies are actually more popular than books.

LOTR and Harry Potter wouldn't be nearly as popular without the movies.

[Theprofessional]

@Basman I appreciate the feedback and I hope I don’t sound condescending but this is advanced stuff man you have to actually think about it

Books are the same as a verbal story, it’s just recorded on paper.

“Popular” is only because movies are a heavily diluted, immediately-comprehensible translation of a piece of literature that DOES THE THINKING FOR YOU in experiencing a story. That’s what movies and stage plays do.

It also allows multiple people to experience it at once, while literature is individual

[Basman]

3 minutes ago, Theprofessional said:

@Basman I appreciate the feedback and I hope I don’t sound condescending but this is advanced stuff man you have to actually think about it

Books are the same as a verbal story, it’s just recorded on paper.

“Popular” is only because movies are a heavily diluted, immediately-comprehensible translation of a piece of literature that DOES THE THINKING FOR YOU in experiencing a story. That’s what movies and stage plays do.

It also allows multiple people to experience it at once, while literature is individual

But not every movie is based on a book. And the story is always changed to fit the medium when books are adapted. And not everyone experiences a movie the same. Some people think the Godfather is boring. Literature doesn't capture the emotion and personal additions one makes when verbally telling a story either.

A story isn't defined by being on a piece of paper. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to adapt novels. It just a very practical medium for storytelling because its simple to record and can fit so much brevity and detail.

12 minutes ago, Theprofessional said:

“Popular” is only because movies are a heavily diluted, immediately-comprehensible translation of a piece of literature that DOES THE THINKING FOR YOU in experiencing a story. That’s what movies and stage plays do.

The only difference is that reading isn't a passive experience. There are plenty of books that don't engage the reader beyond the direct narrative just like there are movies that have deeper stories that engage the viewer to connect with movies themes beyond the simple narrative.

[Theprofessional]

@Basman Every movie is based on a story. It is just a creation to take away a lot of the thinking when engaging with the story, to make it a passive experience. What you said about that is correct

The qualities that contribute to this - performance with actors, music, effects, camera technology and style - are all provided by the zeitgeist it the film is created in.

Zeitgeists fade and are very quickly replaced by each other. Literature on the other hand ages incredibly slowly, with only the words themselves becoming outdated over the course of a few hundred or thousand years, which can be easily fixed with updated words or a total translation into a different language.

That’s just a few reasons why literature provides a lot more value to society

 

 

[Letho]

3 hours ago, Basman said:

You should just focus on what your most passionate about. This seems like a simple and obvious dilemma.

I don't see how literature is the be all, end all of storytelling. Books are just one medium. Verbal storytelling has been the number one way for how people share stories before we where literate or had access mass media. Doesn't make it better than other storytelling mediums inherently. Its just a matter of what medium fits in peoples lives and currently movies are actually more popular than books.

LOTR and Harry Potter wouldn't be nearly as popular without the movies.

I can't believe people are still living in the fantasy of the word 'democratic economy'. It's what perpetuates the 80's to 2010's fantasies of making it as a creative.

That died fully about a decade ago and especially for the arts. I believe in both democracy and economy, those are just two words that don't go together anymore that's all. I turned off the television of that simulated machine of me as a cog in its wheel and now I operate solely according to my rules. It's a compromise. I'd really love to just play music, bliss out and create love with people. I'd really love to work for government and heroically solely for its interest. I'd really love to take my training in medicine and just be a doctor in a hospital and not have to worry about the rest of the world understanding that my purpose is carved out in making a difference in good peoples lives each day as a medical practitioner. This, is not reality. These are no longer reliable scripts.

Money + island + 1 or more children + travel + woman/women (depending on circumstances) and everything else including medical is a bonus, including music/singing which is my own specialty in the arts that I only spend time on as I'm forced to as a part of the training of my own nervous system in particular directions. That's pretty badass though, that I'm 'forced' to master the electric guitar and singing so every once in a while I can just crank it out and get the hips moving heh. But that's all it is. It's sweet, nice and sentimental but its not anything more than that, we have a new politics for economy now including the economy surrounding human attention, success operates not only on different metrics, you should be expecting entirely different outcomes based on literally new generations that neuroplastically morph and wire the rest of their nervous systems according to those times. Remote control to television: Presses 'Off' button to simulation. Relaxes on a recliner on my own island, greets woman, fucks her brains out, wonder about what I can invent next after, fall to sleep; rinse, repeat. Eventual physical death.

That's my present-future now, with some worldly travel, perhaps raising a kid (how many we'll find out) and send him to my own version of harvard as that'll be obsolete by then, write a few essays, do a bit of research, likely capitalize on latest CRISPR/variations (arguably first time and beyond psychedelic experiences) and genetically/related buzz myself in x and y directions outside of my own work on bioelectricity, and that'll be the complete script of my entire life before I die. The rest like nurturing true friendships along the way is just the details, even if we can argue relationships are the most important part, which I wouldn't stray far from, in fact there's too much of an argument to say that the 'democratic economy' is the perfect analogy now for what exists outside of true relationships while at the same time maintaining itself as the perfect distraction and subsequent destruction to them; the irony is rich.

Moral of the story for todays times: Turn off the bloody television to the simulated reality of 'democratic economy' and get your balls heavy on the raw essentials: Money, freedom, love, nervous system. Now, if you're smart at the very least in a renewed way you're wondering how the hell you're going to get there.

You can still 'make it as a creative' but it isn't going to be in the traditional 'creative fields', that is ah... not very creative. To truly master your creativity, you must master your vision of the world in which you're being creative in, if you can't even be in reality in these days about how your profession is going to manifest in todays toxic misguided cultural environment, you'll quickly finding yourself in a life-raft you never knew you boarded in the middle of the ocean while the people around pretend to save you, and you wonder, helplessly, why won't it just work? And now you're sniffing Kim Jong Un's authoritarian booty over his people's freedom of mind as he kills anyone who doesn't weep when they're in public on the day of his fathers passing each year and calls it justice for the people becaues obviously they're spies working for another government or didn't understand who they should have been grateful to. 'Creatives' were so valuable in a pre-technocratic attention span of the populace, however they've gone out of fashion with the radio, they no longer give valuable talk back with their art to progress society unless they also have power. That's the future now, and right now its just a baby. Give it a few more years and it'll develop a prefrontal cortex where it literally tells you straight to your face to put you in your place if we take it to the streets of Chongqing, China. And while you're sitting there, aimless perhaps, worried about the future of the world, that's just another way in which your attention is being coopted in conspiratorial thinking away from what truly matters, your drive towards the truth of handling your bare essentials, not just for today, but for the rest of your life. Step out of the toxic sociopolitical mindscape virus mud of modern society, turn off the simulated television that you're barely taking view of from the perspective of seeing yourself as the cog in the wheel, and get down to 'raw work'. What is 'raw work' as distinguished from 'television work'? Raw work is the work you put into something that you've directly calculated has an immediate positive impact on your path to freedom, even if its in contemplating and learning from failures. Raw work is the use of raw energy at the intersection of existential, financial, personal well-being and even long term relationships, it is money in the bank account of life as opposed to 'television work' which is where existentially, financially, your personal well-being and even truest long term relationships are treated like a commodity and have no return on investment in the long term future outside of adding fuel to the fire that is the matrix of the 'democratic economy' of todays environment still advertising false pathways to freedom.

Edited yesterday at 02:59 AM by Letho

[Leo Gura]

5 hours ago, Theprofessional said:

But the problem is - I don’t enjoy the process of creating literature. I love the process of making a film, no matter what.

This isn't a problem.

Just make film and forget about making literature.

You will ultimately provide more value by being passionate about your work than by doing something else because you think you have to.

Max value comes from max passion.

No one wants to learn literature from someone who would rather be making film. Leave that job for those who love literature more than film.

Edited yesterday at 03:47 AM by Leo Gura

[Theprofessional]

@Leo Gura I had a feeling about that, that maybe my long term performance could be stunted from not having as much passion for literature.

Thank you as always Leo you’re absolutely the GOAT human.

[Leo Gura]

@Theprofessional Don't forget to thank me in your Oscar speech

[Theprofessional]

@Leo Gura of course man, you think I haven’t rehearsed it in my mind many times already

[Letho]

2 hours ago, Letho said:

I can't believe people are still living in the fantasy of the word 'democratic economy'. It's what perpetuates the 80's to 2010's fantasies of making it as a creative.

That died fully about a decade ago and especially for the arts. I believe in both democracy and economy, those are just two words that don't go together anymore that's all. I turned off the television of that simulated machine of me as a cog in its wheel and now I operate solely according to my rules. It's a compromise. I'd really love to just play music, bliss out and create love with people. I'd really love to work for government and heroically solely for its interest. I'd really love to take my training in medicine and just be a doctor in a hospital and not have to worry about the rest of the world understanding that my purpose is carved out in making a difference in good peoples lives each day as a medical practitioner. This, is not reality. These are no longer reliable scripts.

Money + island + 1 or more children + travel + woman/women (depending on circumstances) and everything else including medical is a bonus, including music/singing which is my own specialty in the arts that I only spend time on as I'm forced to as a part of the training of my own nervous system in particular directions. That's pretty badass though, that I'm 'forced' to master the electric guitar and singing so every once in a while I can just crank it out and get the hips moving heh. But that's all it is. It's sweet, nice and sentimental but its not anything more than that, we have a new politics for economy now including the economy surrounding human attention, success operates not only on different metrics, you should be expecting entirely different outcomes based on literally new generations that neuroplastically morph and wire the rest of their nervous systems according to those times. Remote control to television: Presses 'Off' button to simulation. Relaxes on a recliner on my own island, greets woman, fucks her brains out, wonder about what I can invent next after, fall to sleep; rinse, repeat. Eventual physical death.

That's my present-future now, with some worldly travel, perhaps raising a kid (how many we'll find out) and send him to my own version of harvard as that'll be obsolete by then, write a few essays, do a bit of research, likely capitalize on latest CRISPR/variations (arguably first time and beyond psychedelic experiences) and genetically/related buzz myself in x and y directions outside of my own work on bioelectricity, and that'll be the complete script of my entire life before I die. The rest like nurturing true friendships along the way is just the details, even if we can argue relationships are the most important part, which I wouldn't stray far from, in fact there's too much of an argument to say that the 'democratic economy' is the perfect analogy now for what exists outside of true relationships while at the same time maintaining itself as the perfect distraction and subsequent destruction to them; the irony is rich.

Moral of the story for todays times: Turn off the bloody television to the simulated reality of 'democratic economy' and get your balls heavy on the raw essentials: Money, freedom, love, nervous system. Now, if you're smart at the very least in a renewed way you're wondering how the hell you're going to get there.

You can still 'make it as a creative' but it isn't going to be in the traditional 'creative fields', that is ah... not very creative. To truly master your creativity, you must master your vision of the world in which you're being creative in, if you can't even be in reality in these days about how your profession is going to manifest in todays toxic misguided cultural environment, you'll quickly finding yourself in a life-raft you never knew you boarded in the middle of the ocean while the people around pretend to save you, and you wonder, helplessly, why won't it just work? And now you're sniffing Kim Jong Un's authoritarian booty over his people's freedom of mind as he kills anyone who doesn't weep when they're in public on the day of his fathers passing each year and calls it justice for the people becaues obviously they're spies working for another government or didn't understand who they should have been grateful to. 'Creatives' were so valuable in a pre-technocratic attention span of the populace, however they've gone out of fashion with the radio, they no longer give valuable talk back with their art to progress society unless they also have power. That's the future now, and right now its just a baby. Give it a few more years and it'll develop a prefrontal cortex where it literally tells you straight to your face to put you in your place if we take it to the streets of Chongqing, China. And while you're sitting there, aimless perhaps, worried about the future of the world, that's just another way in which your attention is being coopted in conspiratorial thinking away from what truly matters, your drive towards the truth of handling your bare essentials, not just for today, but for the rest of your life. Step out of the toxic sociopolitical mindscape virus mud of modern society, turn off the simulated television that you're barely taking view of from the perspective of seeing yourself as the cog in the wheel, and get down to 'raw work'. What is 'raw work' as distinguished from 'television work'? Raw work is the work you put into something that you've directly calculated has an immediate positive impact on your path to freedom, even if its in contemplating and learning from failures. Raw work is the use of raw energy at the intersection of existential, financial, personal well-being and even long term relationships, it is money in the bank account of life as opposed to 'television work' which is where existentially, financially, your personal well-being and even truest long term relationships are treated like a commodity and have no return on investment in the long term future outside of adding fuel to the fire that is the matrix of the 'democratic economy' of todays environment still advertising false pathways to freedom.

 

@Theprofessionalby the way just wanna say, if you've really got 'the stuff', go for it man. I'll buy/related it. And I mean that, don't let me deter you, just giving you the straight sauce, plus remember what I said concerning creativity + power, perhaps you have the power mate or can get it

r u a Spielberg 2.0 tho and do you mind that ur stuff will be easily replicated as soon as you make it?  Do you also mind that your success won't be long lived and that even if you are a Spielberg 4.0, you probably won't be remembered for more than 5 minutes? These are relevant qn's.

to me, film is super easy to break into but I wouldn't stake meat on it on the cash end of things in todays age. I can analyse a demographic, empathise with the stories that'll scratch nerves and use that as leverage to shape voices. 

what matters is $ of funding.

on this note, I would also think about how you could be a consultant mate as well, try to specialise in empathy more than anything else when it comes to film making. 

Start envisioning all the angles of how you could act in the industry as an adaptation that makes true sense to you and has true logical consistency 

.best wishes.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 05:53 AM by Letho

[Theprofessional]

@Letho Thanks man I didn’t reply to your previous one because honestly it was really long and I didn’t know what to respond to

But I appreciate the support. I’m not Spielberg 2.0 but I’m more like the next Christopher Nolan, just in a different way. And yes you’re right about people replicating what I do, I have studied marketing as well, and honestly the competition copying my methods is the only thing that can save the quality of films being made, because right now the industry is in a death spiral

I myself am basically replicating Nolan, so if this keeps spreading then everybody wins, including the public.

[Letho]

@Theprofessional sorry man I can't support you then as I don't want you to experience suffering in the future. 

Maybe I am wrong bro, like I may be completely wrong and I accept that, however I just see going into the arts as a massive danger even for the extremely talented in light of AI, which is one of my specialisations. 

You shouldn't care about my validation, approval or anyone's for that matter, you know yourself better than anyone else man certainly not some random bozo keyboard warrior like myself heh. 

I am on your side in as much as you internally (meaning you don't need to confirm with me externally man like I said I'm just some random bozo heh)  evaluate yourself honestly, the environment truthfully and take massive continuous day to day action adapting to those realities to train your brain into the most imaginative fucker on the planet, or just something like that. That's 'who' I am though bro, maybe my subconscious philosophy is wrong, however for me, I find it too risky to be any other way not just with respect to the arts but just any field.

Sincerely bro, I wish you the best. Feel free to punch any questions my way or otherwise and I'll give you straight answers from my bone marrow and a free cow.