all that inspires me

Guest Post: Tom Cunniff

Guest Post: Tom Cunniff // @tomcunniff

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“What inspires me is how digital and social media can enable global movements with the potential to change the world.”

But… that’s the Miss America answer. It really IS inspiring, but what really knocks me about the web is "instant art".

Cheap, ubiquitous digital technology has radically shrunk the gap between “I have an idea” and “Here it is!"

The vast majority of this "instant art" is just plain awful. But that's OK: the internet ignores the lousy (unless it's so wonderfully lousy that it's great) and shoots the cream straight to the top.

Digital enables the instantaneous creation and global distribution of low art, like “The Splendiferous Barfing Cup” and “Darth Vader Talks To Princess Leia”.

It also enables what I see as high art, like “Smooth Jazz Crazy Train” and the Kleptones audio/video mashup of “Come Again”.

But all the art -- high and low, lousy and amazing, is magical. It's an important reminder of the wild wellspring of creativity that is at the very center of being human.

It reminds me that we are ALL creative. And the only thing we need to unleash that is to give ourselves permission to be who we are.

Humans create. It's what we do.

The Splendiferous Barfing Cup