Wild data: where new material comes from
Wild data is the new material in culture that has not been recorded yet. It starts as first-hand experience, and it is closer to you than you think.
Wild data is the new material in culture that has not been recorded yet.
Let me name the thing AI cannot reach. I call it wild data.
Wild data is the new material in culture that has not been recorded yet. It is the look of a subculture before it has a name. It is a feeling a generation shares before anyone writes it down. It is a street style still forming.
This material starts as first-hand experience. Someone lives it before it becomes a picture or a post.
This is why artists still matter, and not for romantic reasons. Artists tend to stay close to first-hand experience. They notice what is happening in a body, a street, or a group before it has a fixed form.
From people living something directly, in streets, communities, and groups you already follow..
Wild data is the new material in culture that has not been recorded yet.
It is the look of a subculture before it has a name.
It is a feeling a generation shares before anyone writes it down.
They can feel things directly: grief, desire, shame, hope, exhaustion. AI cannot produce these from its training data. It can only remix what has already been recorded.
So people follow human artists for two reasons. The work connects with them. And there is a person on the other side, living something real.
For your own work, the lesson is practical. The fresh material is close to you. It is in the streets, the communities, and the online groups you already pay attention to. Wild data is not far away. You just have to look at what is happening now, before it gets recorded.
It is the look of a subculture before it has a name.
From people living something directly, in streets, communities, and groups you already follow.
Wild data is the new material in culture that has not been recorded yet. It starts as first-hand experience, and it is closer to you than you think.
This is the short version. Read the full-length essay, “Imagination is still a superpower”.
This issue is part of Everybody's Smart, a newsletter on taste, judgment, AI, culture, cognition, and the future of professional work. New issues every 2 to 3 weeks, free on LinkedIn.
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