The purpose of life isn’t to be productive, said all unproductive men.
Productivity — comes from the notion of ‘product’, to produce.
Pro+duco (to draw out, to lead).
The irony about productivity is this:
There is currently a cult of productivity in modern society, yet there is also a group of individuals who are very anti-productivity.
But — what is the real goal here?
I first had the thought about the word ‘productivity’ comes from the notion of ‘product’. The quote that was always interesting to me (before Kanye West made YEEZY) was in an interview how he said “I’m a product person!”
It first befuddled me, but later on I realized perhaps the productive artist and creator is someone who in fact is passionate about creating and producing things. To produce ideas, to create tangible products, and also to create intangible (digital) products.
Then I thought about myself– how I have always been obsessed with products since a kid. For example, from a young age my interest in clothes, fashion, shoes, etc.
Even now, my interest and obsession with Apple products, Tesla products, and other tangible products and tools.
The product as a hyper-idea?
Something interesting I learned from Virgil Abloh’s “Something’s off” book is the notion of a sneaker as a ‘hyper object’– the idea that the physical object is simply a manifestation of a certain idea, not the sneaker itself.
For example if we think about YEEZY sneakers, we are actually thinking of Kanye West’s aesthetic ideals. With Lamborghini, we do not want the car itself, but the Lamborghini *attitude* (in praise of being audacious, ego, loud, etc).
Even with TESLA, it isn’t the car itself we want, but Elon Musk’s embodied ideals for the future.
Even with HAPTIC, they are embodied ideals of my own. Of beauty, wabi-sabi, timeliness, classic and elegant design, etc.
With Air Jordan sneakers, we want to become dominant like Michael Jordan, not the sneaker itself.
