J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Month: March 2022

Beat Week!

By

On March 26

In Creative Work/Career, Electronic Music, Music Business

Last week I worked full-time on music production, something I hadn’t done in years. I called it “Beat Week.”

I’m between novels, and with the next one still simmering in my subconscious, it felt like a good time to briefly switch up my creative focus. I decided to take a break from my client work as well, and told everyone I was going on vacation. A vacation to my music studio!

Before I fully committed to writing novels (around 2008), music production was my main creative activity. Making beats frequently took up the majority of my waking hours. My friends and I had a really good run in the late nineties and 2000’s promoting dance music events and releasing tracks on our label. Our videos played on MTV, we wrote music for commercials and videogames (including Dance Dance Revolution), and we toured around the US and Europe to DJ at dance clubs. But the best part for me was always making music with friends, or working alone in my studio, late at night with my headphones, bobbing my head in the dark.

That lifestyle came to a natural end, a combination of getting older, having a kid, our parties making less money, and everyone’s priorities shifting. We kept making music together, and the record label continued to release tracks, but we accepted that our “full-on” music crew days were over. There were other things to do in life, and the music industry was changing rapidly before our eyes. New musicians were coming up through SoundCloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, and YouTube, with or without a record label. Our fifteen minutes of music fame was up, and we were pretty much okay with that. We’d kept the same party (Qoöl at 111 Minna) going for fifteen years, an epic run.

All this to say that I hadn’t really experienced music immersion in a long time. So I was curious what it would be like to dedicate an entire work week to making beats. Here’s what I experienced.

Read More

Free To Live, Pay To Party

By

On March 20

In Alternative Economics, Culture Rants/Shares

I’m taking a break from my consulting work next week to make music. I’m calling it “Beat Week”. I haven’t even worked out the details yet, but I’m planning on writing multiple music sketches a day, brushing off the studio rust, and hopefully creating some great grooves.

I’m fortunate and privileged enough to be able to do this. 65% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with no appreciable savings, and can’t afford to pursue their creative whims, impulses toward social service, or other non-income-generating pursuits.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The majority of people are working too much, with too little time to relax and play, because of massive wealth inequality. With a minor wealth tax, we could afford universal healthcare and free education for everyone. These two benefits alone would ease so much suffering, improve mental and physical health outcomes, generate more free time, and raise our national happiness.

As a society, we don’t have to choose between corruption-riddled communism or exploitation-based capitalism as our only two economic options.

There are literally an infinite number of economic models we can choose from.

Free to Live, Pay to Party

What if, as a citizen, you could count on the following services being provided to you and your family, regardless of your economic means?

  • Healthcare, including preventive, medical treatments, vision and dental
  • Education, from early childhood to PhD
  • Emergency services, including fire and police
  • Libraries, parks, and other public facilities
  • Local transportation
  • Basic internet and phone service

We already get some of those, so it’s not too hard to imagine, right?

Suddenly life is easier. You don’t have to worry about going bankrupt if you get sick. You have no student loans to pay back. You don’t have to own a car. If you want to live a simple, inexpensive life, that’s available to you.

What if, in addition to the services above, your municipality or region enacted policies to encourage abundant supply (and thus lower cost) of the following? Or perhaps even provided these for free for all citizens?

  • Non-luxury housing
  • Staple healthful plant food production (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, etc.)

An affordable roof over your head, and plenty to eat. No more homelessness. No more tents lining the streets of every major city.

But what if you want to live large? What if you want to wear designer clothes and drive a sports car and eat sushi prepared by the finest chefs? What if you want to eat a big steak every night and drive a giant oversized truck? What if you want bionic legs to run really fast?

Get a job, slacker! Or start a business. And use your paycheck and/or profits to pay for the following:

  • Restaurant dining and luxury foods
  • Air/space travel and tourism
  • Cosmetic body modifications
  • Cybernetic enhancements
  • Life extension treatments beyond the average natural maximum (~100 years)
  • Luxury items (fancy watches, yachts, designer clothing, etc.)
  • Drugs, alcohol, and other non-essential consumables
  • Entertainment media and experiences
  • Non-essential personalized services
  • Mansions and other large/luxurious domiciles
  • Computers and electronics

Would this “free to live, pay to party” model work in reality? Would there be sufficient motivation for people to work? Could the government afford to pay for all these services?

Yes and yes. All basic income experiments demonstrate little to no drop in personal productivity. And a 2% wealth tax on the ultra-rich would generate between and 2 and 4 trillion USD per year. Right now American’s spend between three and four trillion per year on healthcare, but that includes huge corporate profits for private healthcare providers. Other countries provide excellent healthcare to their citizens for a fraction of this cost, and there’s no reason we can’t do the same.

Automation and robotics are creating real wealth and efficiencies. The problem is all that wealth “naturally” trickles up if we don’t intervene. A minor wealth tax fixes this. We don’t all have to work this hard.

It’s not communism! Under this model, private ownership still exists, as does a reasonably regulated free market. And even with a minor wealth tax, the ultra-rich stay ultra-rich (and probably keep getting richer). Sure, it’s wealth redistribution, but only a little bit of wealth redistribution. And there’s no cap on how rich an individual can get.

But the rest of us get to work a fifteen or twenty hour work week, spend as much time with our family and friends as we want, take multiple vacations per year, and live rich, varied, free lives. We get medical care when we need it, and we go to school as long as we want without incurring debt. Even if we’re not rich.

Does all this sound too good to be true? If it does, you don’t understand how extreme wealth inequality is in this country. Yes, a 2% wealth tax pays for it all, even if we maintain our ridiculous military budget at current levels.

How Does Human Consciousness Change?

What happens when a society organizes itself so that basic life becomes affordable for everyone?

  • We all relax a little more
  • We all feel less fear and desperation
  • Maybe we’re all a little more charitable toward our neighbors
  • We don’t feel resentful, because everyone gets the same deal (no means testing)
  • We have enough time to sleep, exercise, prepare healthful food, and socialize, making us healthier and happier

Just spend five minutes imagining your life under this kind of socioeconomic system. It’s completely within our grasp.

Free to live, pay to party.

More Kind but Less Nice

By

On March 13

In Metaprogramming

I don’t think I’m a “nice guy.” At least in my adulthood, I’ve gone after what I wanted, looked out for my own needs, and set clear boundaries. But I am naturally friendly and agreeable, and I enjoy working with others cooperatively toward a greater goal. So I’m probably perceived as “nice” by others.

I also try to choose kindness and avoid cruelty, as much as possible, at least in terms of my direct interactions with other human beings (in terms of eating animal products, and not researching the entire supply/labor chain of every product I purchase, there’s room for improvement). Being generally kind probably adds to the impression that I’m a “nice” person.

Right now, in terms of my personal development, I’m actively trying to become more kind, but less nice. The reason for this is simple: to protect my writing time and mental health (see my previous post) while staying true to my core values.

In practice, this means becoming less agreeable, speaking my mind more often, being willing to rock the boat, and defending my time and boundaries even more vigorously.

But it also means trying to become more empathic, freely giving my attention and energy to those who need and deserve it, and exercising compassion whenever I see an opportunity to do so.

It’s a little tricky to do both at once, but nice does not equal kind.

Some insights:

  • People don’t know what my needs and boundaries are unless I explicitly state them. But when I communicate those needs and boundaries clearly and consistently, everyone in my life accepts them without question. I need to write at least a couple hours every day, walk at least an hour a day, and so forth. It’s entirely up to me to make those things happen, and to make it clear those activities are non-negotiable. Everyone else will adjust just fine. It helps nobody to put aside my own needs, feel resentful, and then lash out in passive-aggressive ways.
  • There have been times in my life when I could afford to be both kind (a core value) and nice/agreeable (not a core value). But my current situation, with increased work demands, isn’t one of them. Being nice and agreeable at this point in my life would lead to resentment, less time for creative pursuits, and higher levels of stress/anxiety/depression.
  • There have also been times in my life when my social position or circumstance required me to be more nice/agreeable (starting out in a new field, really needing a job, etc.). That isn’t the case now. But that doesn’t mean I should be any less kind. The opposite in fact; with more power and status I can afford to be more kind, and I should be (because it’s a core value, because it makes me feel good, because it’s the right thing to do, because kindness lifts us all up).

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén