Never Play to the Gallery - David Bowie

Asking “what problem does World of Warcraft solve?” is dumb.

It turns the product’s definition inward on itself, self-referential.

“we must be fixing a problem” does not produce creative ideas. It constrains the ideas.

What problem does WoW solve? Boredom and entertainment. This is indeterminate - many things solve this.

Focusing on solving problems is a narrow, fixed-supply mindset. Broadening on creating opportunities is where it’s at.

OpenAI is one of the founders of the 2020’s AI revolution.

They did not set out to “solve a problem”.

They wanted to create something - artificial general intelligence (AGI).

And what was produced along the way - ChatGPT / assistants - was something that solved a number of problems.

See: The Myth of The Objective for a book about this.

Never play to the gallery.

Always remember that when you originally started working, there was something inside yourself that you felt, that if you could manifest it in some way, you would understand more about yourself, how you coexist with the rest of society. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfil other people’s expectations. They generally produce their worst work when they do that.

If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area - always go a little bit further into the water than you feel you’re capable of out being in, go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel like your feet are touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.