Stop Being A Tool - Why Creatives Were Never Just Useful

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We’ve spent a century conditioning ourselves to believe that if we aren’t "producing," we aren't "valuable." But in 2026, the machines can out-produce us all. This episode is about The Great Decoupling—the moment we stop being high-end processors and start being the source. We dive into the "Productivist Fallacy," why Maya and Chris are grieving the loss of their utility, and why your "Why" is the only proprietary data left that the machines can't touch.

It’s time to move from being a resource to being the source.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Yale Budget Lab – March 2026 Report on Creative Automation.
• Immanuel Kant – The distinction between Instrumental and Intrinsic Value (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals).
• IDIBELL UB Brain Cognition Group – 2026 study in Advanced Science on human imaginative leaps.
• James Taylor – SuperCreativity and the concept of Centaurs vs. Cyborgs.

THE BOOK Lessons From a Terrible Photographer is out now. It’s part memoir, part field guide, and part honest conversation about what it actually costs to build a creative life. If this episode landed, the book goes deeper into finding the "Source" when the "Resource" runs dry.

LINKS

• Website: terriblephotographer.com
• Support the show: terriblephotographer.com/support
• Subscribe to Pub Notes: the-terrible-photographer.kit.com
• Instagram: @terriblephotographer
• Patrick on Instagram: @patrickfore
• Email Patrick: patrick@terriblephotographer.com

Email is always open. Questions, thoughts, hate mail. I respond to everything. Link above.

The Terrible Creative is written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Fore. Images Licensed through Adobe Stock. Music licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. Recorded from my garage in San Diego, California.