Think Beta
What does it mean to 'live beta'? It means to prefer a life of instability and radical newness, even though it may be 'worse' and 'instable'.
What this means
The reason why this is such a radical notion:
In modern day times, we all seek 'stability' for ourselves, our 'families', etc.
Much of buying a home-- the notion of building 'stability' for your 'growing family'.
But ... what if IN-STABILITY were in fact the superior route? That in order to extract the maximum out of life and existence that you MUST seek MAXIMAL instability and dynamism in your life? What would this mean?
Beta Art
Then, your art is never final or perfect. Rather, the ongoing 'beta testing' of your artwork is in fact the goal.
Beta lifestyle
Seek the life of maximal change and instability.
A 'digital nomad' lifestyle. Or a semi-nomadic one. A life full of travel, unexpectedness, foreign-ness, and learning new things, languages, peoples, cultures, etc.
Don't seek final or the best
Beta is often inferior to the more 'stable' release, or the public release. Yet, Beta is sexier, more interesting, more bleeding-edge. This is what we love as technologists. To always be on the bleeding-edge of things.
Everything is beta-testing
Also if we think about this as a lifestyle approach, it is fun:
Every day is a new fun exciting chance and opportunity for you to test out something new!
A new approach, a new thought, a new concept, etc/
No boundaries or barriers
One thing I also like about the beta mindset is this: there is no right or wrong, everything is just testing.
For example, when I observe Seneca engage with the world, he is just beta testing physics. He sees certain things and objects and interacts with it, and what he is trying to discover is how it reacts as response to him. There’s no right or wrong here; he is simply testing physics, action and reaction, Action and effect.
Anti-finality
The problem with a lot of philosophers and thinkers is this: they seek a supreme final, immutable answer to everything. Even Stephen Hawking and his pursuit for “a theory of everything.”
However, seeking an ultimate system, or being a systematizer is bad. Even our best friend Friedrich Nietzsche said “I distrust all systemizers.” Even one of his unfinished books, “The Will to Power”, he ultimately scrapped it at the end because he realized he was making an ultimate system.
Why everyone loves waiting for the new iPhone
In some ways, Apple and technology is the ultimate optimistic system; there will always be something new and fresh. Even a funny thought:
One of the best reasons to keep living, is to simply be able to be alive and witness new innovations given birth.
Also, one of the great reasons to be a photographer is that we are the ultimate synthesis and hybrid of technology and art. Consider, the camera is one of the most technological apparatus for creating art. And yes, us as photographers are artists.
Therefore, as time goes on, new innovations will continue to be given birth which will make our lives as photographers happier, more productive, more creative, more artistic, more efficient, and lighter.
Even the other day when I was shooting some street photography at the mall here in Phnom Penh, I was thinking to myself; “Wow, I wish I had a Ricoh GR 3 or Ricoh GR
