Are you the kind of person who likes good news first? Or bad news first? Which order do you want them in this month? August has some really big dreams and some really hard work, and the cards are telling us that we can’t pick and choose, we have to take the whole deal.

August Energy Reading

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Online businesses must transcend the digital if they want to survive. Awareness of the harms of the social internet and associated technologies, and how corporate greed and lackluster policy have made it so many of the harms outweigh the powerful good, is continuing to increase. So what's an online business to do? This is the audio version of an essay first published at thinkpiece.fyi 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Bring the Internet to Life

When I narrowed the scope of what is possible, I found more possibility. A paradox perhaps, but true. Trying to keep all paths open, to never choose, to have it all is what prevents growth, creativity, and clarity. Listen to the full audio essay here and then join the conversation at thinkpiece.fyi 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

In Praise Of Constraints

Artists feel the temperature shifts of our culture and economy before others even think to walk outside and see what the weather is. At this fulcrum moment of the Algorithmic Age, artists are up against some challenges: Generative AI threatens jobs, algorithms are overloaded and make it harder to reach customers, and niche communities have become professionalized at the expense of true connection. But Edgar Fabián Frías isn’t afraid. Edgar is a boundary-breaking multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles with degrees in Psychology, Studio Art, and an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley. Their immersive works blend diverse artistic disciplines, challenging conventional categories, and placing them directly at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and the Internet’s constant shifts. In this conversation, Edgar explores the changes in the online marketplace, how they effect them as an artist, and the boundaries required to make good work while advertising their art and therapy practice. Even as the present Internet threatens to undercut art careers and flatten creativity, Edgar shows us how to find the space for the play required to innovate, and the connections required to thrive both personally and professionally online. Tune in to learn: * How artists like Edgar hack the Internet to create new economic and relational opportunities * Why web3 was so maligned, and what that has to do with Generative AI * The crucial boundaries Edgar enforces to protect their artistic work * The business of art, and the skills Edgar has had to learn in order to thrive * And more Activate your imagination by listening here or wherever you get your podcasts. Connect With Edgar Artist website Therapist website  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Innovation in the Algorithmic Age

Who gets to touch the world? Spatial computing replicates the core human desire to impact our surroundings while preventing us from doing that at all. This is the audio version of an essay published at Think Piece.  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Vision Pro Is An Answer To A Deeply Sad Question

AI AI AI. It’s all anyone online can talk about. What is it? Does it do anything useful? Who will it harm, and how? Can creative jobs even exist in the age of machine learning? For artists, creatives, writers, and other intellectual property-driven professionals, the generative AI platforms continue to provoke confusion and dismay. How were these corporations able to train the Large Language Models that support these tools on a vast corpus of copyrighted works without permission from or compensation of the creators? Attorney and art historian Katherine de Vos Devine is uniquely positioned to discuss these challenges. As an expert in fair use who works extensively with artists through her firm, Katherine has a deep understanding of the history and legal precedent that undergirds this moment. In this episode of The Think Piece Podcast, Katherine offers a calm approach to the swiftly changing AI landscape. We discuss the current lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, the history of fair use, and how the courts may approach these cases as we explore the role that each of us has in shaping the future, and ultimately ask: what world do we want to leave behind? Connect with Katherine Implement Legal Instagram LinkedIn Katherine's essay series on Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

August Energy Reading

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