J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Month: December 2024

Artistic Values for 2025

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On December 31

In Creative Work/Career, Metaprogramming, Writing

I’ve done some work on consciously prioritizing my values, and that work has served me well. I know what I stand for, and that makes decision making easier.

But when I found myself in a creative/artistic lull at several points during 2024, I realized that I hadn’t ever thought about my values specifically in regards to creativity.

Maybe, in this age of AI-generated slop, it’s more important than ever for artists and creators to drill down on the WHY of their creative process. It’s a way to push back against the capitalistic, soulless, unconscious, theft-based, royalty-dodging, exploitative, human-devaluing “values” of the AI industry.

So for what it’s worth, here’s what I’ve come up with so far. I’m going to focus on these values in 2025:

1. Daily practice/habit

I’m not as fanatic about “write every day” as Stephen King, but I do try to write most days. I know I’m generally happier on days when I write (and/or make music), and of course there’s always the possibility that something I create might be halfway decent. But if I don’t put in the work, I get neither of those benefits.

2. Exploration

One of the great benefits of the act of creating something is that there are almost limitless possibilities. Prevailing norms of genre and style provide structure, but even those boundaries are meant to be broken–or at least tested. So you can pretty much do whatever you want. I like the analogy of making art as an exploration of possible spaces. For each work there is a universe of possibility, and the artist has the privilege of poking around to see if there’s anything good in there.

3. Service

My dad challenged me to ask this question: “Who do you serve?” Does your work serve the shareholders of a corporation? The owners of a privately held company? The mission of a nonprofit? Your family? The people in your community?

As artists, if we only chase commercial success, there’s a possibility we’re following the agenda of some corporation that’s trying to sell the most lowest-common-denominator “content units.” But if we ignore all markets and only serve our own artistic sensibilities, there’s a possibility of getting lost in the black hole of our own belly button.

So maybe there’s a Goldilocks space in between, where we serve others with our artistic efforts, but we don’t try to please everybody, or make the quickest buck, or force ourselves to work in styles and genres we don’t really like.

That’s it! What are you own artistic values?

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

A Few Words About My Dad

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On December 26

In Personal Updates

My father, John Roaldseth Moyer, died on November 16th 2024, of natural causes. He was with his wife Kristin, at their home in the village of St. Hilaire d’Ozilhan, France.

I flew to France to attend his funeral. We gave him a great send-off with an abundance of flowers. Many of his friends from Geneva (where he and Kristin worked for many years) made the trip to the village, and several members of Kristin’s family flew in from Norway to pay their respects. My dad was loved by many.

This obituary on the World Council of Churches site is a good one, especially when it comes to his career. For those interested in Frontier Internship in Mission, the Geneva-based NGO my dad directed for many years, Ada Forcer’s dissertation is a good place to start (PDF link).

On a more personal note, I want to share some thoughts about what kind of father he was.

  • My dad was a hobbyist. He had a huge model train setup in our garage in Berkeley, which my brother and I were absolutely fascinated by. He also built model boats from kits, and even briefly took up oil painting. As far as I know he was entirely self-taught, but approached each activity with a fearless sense of exploration that I admired (and I like to think rubbed off on me).
  • My dad was gentle. I’m sure he got angry at my brother and me at times, but none of those moments have stuck with me. I think we did get a few comically light spankings when we were little (as was the tradition at the time), but neither of us ever feared him physically, and he rarely raised his voice.
  • He was strong, too. My brother and I were both surprised by one particular incident where my dad confronted someone who tried to cut in line at the airport. He did so with utter confidence and no anger, and the line cutter backed off without protest. Later, discussing the moment, my brother and I realized we’d both had the same thought–Dad is kind of a badass… (though he never acted “macho”).
  • He led a number of family adventures, including building a cabin in the Oregon woods, a week-long sailing trip on a small boat, and moving to Europe for a number of years.
  • He made and maintained lifelong friendships, including Bill Hepworth (from high school), Gus Schultz, Chuck Harper, Marvin and Erdmut Brown, and many others.
  • He had “joie de vie” to the utmost. He loved parties and he loved to host. He loved wine, probably a little too much (St. Hilaire d’Ozilhan is a small village with six wineries), but most of all he enjoyed sitting with friends and talking endlessly. John and Kristin had an endless flow of guests through their house, all who felt loved and welcome.

My father had his struggles as well, which he included in a series of informal memoirs that he wrote for family. And my relationship with him wasn’t always easy. But I loved him greatly, and looked up to him in many ways, and am grateful that he positively modeled so many aspects of life for me.

Here are a few pictures from various phases of his life. If you want to learn more about my dad for any reason, feel free to get in touch.

 

The Eternal Existential Threats to Democratic Societies

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On December 11

In Culture Rants/Shares, Politics, Utopian Speculations

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to handle my stress levels for the next four or more years, living under an anti-democratic government. I didn’t do so well from 2016 through 2020, suffering from several stress-related health issues. It wasn’t ALL because of our president during that time, but that was a big part of it.

First of all, I’m going to be stricter with my information diet. I’m going to follow the news less closely, with reduced frequency. I’ll probably still glance at headlines daily, but I’m not going to spend a lot of time reading about the intricacies of the latest horrible thing Trump and his cronies are doing. I know it’s going to be bad, and there’s not a whole lot I can do about it right now.

I’m also swearing off late-night comics who pillory Trump, and left-wing rage-bait YouTube. Making fun of Trump doesn’t get rid of him, and I’m already angry enough.

So what am I going to do?

I’m going to keep thinking, writing, and sharing my opinions as a still-free citizen. And I’m going to keep a long-term perspective, both for my own mental health, and as part of my self-assigned responsibility as a science fiction writer.

Threats to Democracy as Entropic Decay

Lately I’ve been thinking about threats to democracy as a process of entropic decay. A thriving democratic society requires systems to guard against internal and external threats. If sufficient energy isn’t invested into those systems, natural entropic forces will cause those systems to decay, devolve, and eventually die.

For example, a democratic society requires a reasonably educated and informed populace (so citizens can vote intelligently), a free press (to report the truth and call out corruption), a functional system of checks and balances (once again to prevent corruption and power-mongering), and many other systems (or institutions, if you prefer) to keep things running smoothy and fairly. Maintaining order in those systems requires energy (time, money, resources). There will always be bad actors who try to divert that energy into their own pockets or pet projects, arguing that we don’t really need those systems (because everything is fine). But eventually, if you divert enough resources from public education, public health, protecting journalists, etc.–then things will no longer be fine. And that’s what we’re experiencing in the United States.

In terms of personal copium, I find it helpful to think of Trump as a natural entropic force. He’s just another charismatic grifter–they’re a dime a dozen throughout history. Threats to democracy will always exist (thus eternal), and energy will always be required to push back against those threats (“eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”).

Types of Threats–Internal and External

So what are the eternal existential threats to democratic societies, exactly?

Internal Threats

  • extreme wealth inequality
  • populism/tribalism/nationalism
  • corruption
  • environmental/health
  • low birthrate

All of these threats overlap and mutually aggravate, and the result is always social mistrust and a fractured society. So which systems protect against each?

  • extreme wealth inequality (free healthcare and education, basic income/citizen stipends, progressive taxation, corporation taxation, inheritance tax, closing tax loopholes and offshorism)
  • populism/tribalism/nationalism (strong public education to reduce bigotry and ignorant voting, and, idk, maybe start a US royal family so we can all rally around a king or queen?)
  • corruption (support free press/protect journalists)
  • environmental/health (food safety, clean/air water regulations, preventative public health [vaccines, nutrition, easily accessible healthcare, etc.])
  • low birthrate (parental leave, reduce financial pressure on young people, idk?)

What about external threats? I used to more dovish, but decades of observing Putin has made me more of realist. And the glaciers are melting before our eyes…

External Threats

  • invasion
  • sabotage
  • currency/trade wars
  • natural disasters and climate change

And how do we protect against these?

  • invasion (strong, up-to-date military, high morale volunteer service, dissuasion via economic alliances)
  • sabotage (cyberwarfare defense, social media regulation to prevent foreign propaganda and divisive agents)
  • currency/trade wars (reduce deficit, encourage domestic manufacturing and resource acquisition)
  • natural disasters and climate change (reduce emissions, sequester carbon, relocate citizens in doomed zones)

Ten years ago I wouldn’t have considered invasion, but then Russia invaded Ukraine. And now Trump is talking about “annexing” Mexico and Canada. Is he joking? Probably? I hope?

So, are we fucked?

Will the United States survive the current round of entropic, anti-democratic bullshit? Ultimately I think it will, because of the many anti-fragile elements of our government. But I think we’ll see a much diminished nation. What’s likely?

  • US dollar will experience degradation as a reserve currency
  • Weakened alliances with EU and NATO, US no longer seen as a rock-solid reliable ally
  • Public health, life expectancy, and education levels will continue to decline as long as GOP is in power
  • Climate change will be ignored as long as GOP is in power

Things can always get worse, but they can also always get better. I wouldn’t be surprised if the country swings both left and small-d democratic (which is different than liberal) in the coming decade. Maybe Ray Dalio is right and there’s something to Strauss-Howe generational theory, and we’ll see the beginning of a return to civic life, strong institutions, and a more-or-less united populace around 2034.

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