A Translucent Age

Noah Brier offered a great post yesterday on the fragility of permanence and the humor of our ongoing, communal belief in the ways we think things should be.

"...we've gotten so used to things like year-on-year growth and, in the case of the media/entertainment industries, mass audiences..."

"...the only reason we're surprised (whether 'we' are the advertising industry or television executives) is because we've gotten comfortable with the incredible profits..."

Post Enron, post Bear-Stearns, post whatever's around the corner (and we sense something is around the corner, don't we?), it actually seems prudent to thoughtfully consider the supposed irrational, the risky, the "not mainstream" choices—be they budgetary, strategic, functional or creative.

And I'm all for exploring the outer reaches. But Noah's post also hints at responsibility, the value of content, and conversation.

"Unfortunately, we've gotten so used to things like year-on-year growth and, in the case of the media/entertainment industries, mass audiences that we've forgotten that success is about how much you put in as well as how much you get out."

Have we been milking the effort of those who came before us, as well as those who consume our products and services, without contributing something of value ourselves? 

We've already entered a translucent age. An age where greed is all too easily observed, where motivations are abundantly clear. Perhaps even an age where expectations—and thus, budgeting, staffing, and corporate mandates—should be better calibrated to acknowledge the value of giving as well as receiving.