Imperfect Progress
Whiteboard Head Bashing. Creative U-Turns. I wrote a load of things I still need to burn. But, like the narrative of the final creative, we stumbled until that stumbling turned into progress.
The Brief: follow the journey of mankind's relationship with technology.
The Task: Condense 15,000+ years into 7 stanzas... that slowly diminish in size... and describe an unknown future debated by professionals across the globe.
“Spark to smoke
Smoke to smog
Smog to stars”
Humanity's entire journey not just in three lines but naturally following the journey of a spark, turning into smoke and dispersing to the reveal the stars
”Turing’s turning
Learning’s labour”
So happy to get the main guy in here – one of those few instances where words just line up perfectly with your intentions and the pentameter just rolls like butter on warm bread
“The human race has company
And it counts all of my steps”
Modern day was the hardest section by far and this stanza was the last thing I wrote as it took so long to find a positive angle that also summarises the promise and uncertainty we face
“Intertwined: metal and dust
Our history is fuel
Our future is us”
My favourite stanza even though it took 30 seconds to write, always the way.
History is fuel does a great job of describing both fossil fuels burning for humanity's advancement but also how AI uses the past as a database for the future
“Bionic extensions
Artificial art
The best we can create,
Has a human heart”
The perfect positive message to describe how we feel about AI: that it has it's place but will never replace the human experience