Strands of Genius: The Rise of Oral Psychodynamics, Free Energy and the Meaning of Life, Stop Please!

Guest curated by James Swift, Editor, MediaCat UK

Jul 08, 2025

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, JAMES SWIFT ::

LOCATION: London, UK

Hello. I'm an advertising trade journalist and the editor of MediaCat UK, a publication that covers the media side of the marketing industry. I've been aware of Faris for a long time, and I was a fan of his writing from the get-go. I tried to get him to write stuff for me several times when I worked at Contagious, but he never did. So I joined a publication (MediaCat UK) he was already writing for. If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, etc etc. I offered to curate an edition of Strands of Genius because I thought it might be good publicity for my site (MEDIACAT UK), but also so that Faris could never refuse to write for me again. Self-serving reasons, I know. But I promise to try to make it worth your while by sharing interesting links that have nothing to do with my publication (M.E.D.I.A.C.A.T.U.K.)

:: WE ASKED JAMES FOR HIS HOT TAKES ON MAGIC & MEANING ::

Despite all our tech, tools, and tracking pixels, humans are still wired for wonder. We want the spark, the story, the synchronicity. We want to feel like something more is at play. Magic—whether literal, metaphorical, or marketing-based—still matters. For creatives, strategists, and brands, injecting meaning into moments is where real connection lives. Logic moves minds, but magic moves hearts. And in a data-driven world, that kind of enchantment might just be your competitive edge.

Do you believe in magic? In the creative process, in life, in marketing?
I don’t believe in the magic of the creative process, but I also don’t think it makes sense to talk about it any other way. I listen to a lot of audiobooks about physics and cosmology to help me fall asleep, and one of the things I’ve learned is that, as far as some scientists are concerned, free will doesn’t really exist. The behaviour of particles is entirely predictable if you know their position and momentum, and there is nothing special about a large clump of particles in the shape of a human that suggests they can behave in any other way. Not even quantum physics offers a way out of this conundrum. We can’t predict how quantum particles will behave, but we know for sure the probabilities of them doing different things — and precise probabilities no less antithetical to free will than deterministic movements. But it still makes sense to talk about people making their own choices because no one and no thing will ever know enough about the state of the universe down to the last particle to predict people’s behaviour accurately. I feel the same way about creativity. Yes, if you were some sort of all-knowing deity, you probably could write a formula for creativity, but it’s too complex for anyone else. I still appreciate good writing that tries to explain why a creative execution works or the conditions that tend to foster good ideas. But there will always be an element of the creative process that is unknowable to us, and we might as well call that magic.

:: THE LINKS ::

THE RISE OF ORAL PSYCHODYNAMICS

I spend more time worrying about a return to oral culture than I do about AI supremacy. I know I'm not cut out for that kind of world because I've never been good at social media. I like to tell myself it's because I refuse to stoop to demagoguery, but I know deep down that I just don't have the right kind of instincts or wit to write hit posts.
Still, I genuinely believe there are good reasons beyond my own inadequacies to be concerned about a decline in literacy culture. Fortunately, it's far from certain that a wholesale return to orality is even possible in an age when almost everything is recorded for posterity — but it's hard to look around and not come to the conclusion that it's already happening to some degree. (The Insight)

FREE ENERGY AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

Whenever anyone asks me what I think is the meaning of life (which has only happened to me once in recent memory), I tell them that it's to hydrogenate carbon dioxide. For reasons that are not clear to me, I find mundane explanations to big questions to be the most comforting and plausible. (Preposterous Universe)

PLEASE STOP!!

Even if you've never read Allie Brosh, you'll probably recognise her drawings from the 'ALL THE THINGS' meme. She's a wonderful writer, though. I still revisit her old blog articles sometimes. When I'm sick of seeing LinkedIn posts by people desperately striving for profundity, it's refreshing to read someone who seems to accidentally stumble into it. This article was written in 2010, but I've thought about it a lot over the past six or seven years — mostly when I see people arguing on social media. (Hyperbole and a Half)

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

Game :: Final Fantasy VII came out when I was 12, and I was obsessed. I only put it down after I ran out of patience trying to defeat the Emerald Weapon.
City :: I went to Sussex University purely because I liked Brighton so much. It was a great city to be young in. It might still be; I just wouldn't know.
Book :: I'm not a huge Hemmingway fan, but I never get bored of re-reading A Moveable Feast
Podcast :: I'm a reluctant podcast listener (oral culture, remember?). I usually start my day with the FT's News Briefing. It's useful, but I can't say that I harbour any particular affection for it.
Song :: I'm not sure I trust anyone who has one favourite song. I always get goosebumps listening to Kishi Bashi's I Am The AntiChrist To You, though (see video).

:: SOME MUSIC TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY ::

:: ‘TIL NEXT TIME ::

This edition was guest curated by James Swift who invites you all to sign up for their free newsletter here - you can find him on LinkedIn. Your regularly scheduled hosts, Rosie & Faris Yakob, will be back next week!

Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 15,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.

It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

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