---

The universe is a pretty big place. Bigger than any place any of us could possibly imagine.
So if it is just us, ... seems like an awful waste of space.

from Jodi Foster, in Contact

---

So I did it. I announced that I was diving in.

And already, things have become more interesting. And, frankly, a whole lot more fun.

I will be filing dispatches, many of which, if all goes as well, will be published in the San Francisco Examiner ... and who knows, maybe in a book. Others of which will at least be published here. Like the following.

---

Content.

It seems to be quite popular lately among the moneyed to discuss the ultimate "triumph of content."

"Content will rule," they say. "It is content that will be rewarded."

Hm. As an active producer of content for most of my life, and in particular as a "ubiquitous" producer of content for the Web over the last four years, I have to wonder what that means. Will content producers actually be paid decent wages, for once? Will good "content," e.g. good movies and television, ultimately win over the shitty tripe that occupies most of our media space? Really? Is that what they are saying?

If so, I sure hope that they are right. But to be honest, one wonders if such types could recognize good content if it hit them in the face.

For one thing, they would stop calling it "content" and start calling it what it is: writing, visual art, film, animation, or whatever the hell it is. True expression deserves better.

Interactivity.

People are starting to accuse me of selling out. They forget that I would not engage in a venture that did not stand for something I believe in. And one thing that I believe in is interactivity. Another thing that I believe in is honesty.

Honestly, I would like to see the triumph of interactivity over (pre-packaged, at least) content.

Which is why, even though I now have a new label that reads "CEO," I will not take down this page until I absolutely have to. (Hopefully never.) And which is also why I am placing my bets on the fact that people are often quite smarter than most companies would like them to be. Or at least more reactive.

I think that people want to decide for themselves what is good and what is bad. And I also think, as self-contradictory as it sounds, that I want to help them.

Risk and reward.

Thinking back to my beloved advisor Amos Tversky, should anyone truly expect to be able to retire by age 30? Or (since I am 31), even 40?

Then what do they do? Can we hope to see a lot more good novels produced from the ranks of the youthful who have cashed out and moved to Bali? Maybe that is what they meant by the ultimate triumph of content: that eventually they, too, will go ahead and produce some.

Confession.

I should mention that in another act of beautiful irony, I am banking on a very Amos-Tversky-esque premise. A premise I would love to talk more about ... and hopefully soon will.

Personally.

Why am I only talking about business?

Because honestly, right now, it is almost all that I think about. It is a return to loving what I am working on in an indescribable way. This may happen to me more often than it does to many people. But for those of us who tend only to do for a living what it is that we most love, it is par for the course.

And the course is not a bad place to be.

---

(worth repeating)
Rebecca, what do you think that Maude was like at age 31?

thanks, Top25.org

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