Your channel viewers will see links here, including "subscribe" and "add as friend".
Profile
Name
Pursuit of Wonder
Description
Fostering reflection through powerful ideas and stories.
Wonder is the feeling of curiosity and appreciation inspired by something beautiful, inexplicable, or unfamiliar. At Pursuit of Wonder, we create work with the aim of producing that feeling.
Through video essays, short stories, guided experiences, books, and more, we explore a wide range of topics related to philosophy, psychology, science, literature, well-being, and more. We believe in facing the challenges and complexities of life head-on, and in doing so, we strive to inspire a reconnection with child-like wonder and a comfort with the uncertainty and absurdity of existence.
Wonder is the feeling of curiosity and appreciation inspired by something beautiful, inexplicable, or unfamiliar. At Pursuit of Wonder, we create work with the aim of producing that feeling.
Through video essays, short stories, guided experiences, books, and more, we explore a wide range of topics related to philosophy, psychology, science, literature, well-being, and more. We believe in facing the challenges and complexities of life head-on, and in doing so, we strive to inspire a reconnection with child-like wonder and a comfort with the uncertainty and absurdity of existence.
Subscribers
3.39M
Subscriptions
Recent Activity
 |
Pursuit of Wonder
ART REVEALS YOUR HUMANITY. TECHNOLOGY TRIES TO TAKE IT FROM YOU.
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between technology, media, and creativity.
In particular, the tension between these things.
I wrote an essay on this for the Pursuit of Wonder newsletter, where I share original essays, reflections, and updates every couple of weeks. It's completely free, so if you're interested, you can subscribe to it here:
https://pursuitofwonder.kit.com/newsl...
Below is a shortened version of that latest essay.
———
Technology and creativity (art) are always somehow in both a symbiotic and parasitic relationship with each other.
The problem is largely a continual divergence of incentive and purpose.
Technology is almost always created for wholly different reasons than art. Yet art almost always needs technology.
This is where the asymmetry of the relationship—the tension—is created. Technology does not need art, but art needs technology. Of course, technology needs creativity, but not for itself. Not art.
The generations that participated in the invention of the written word were not seeking to provide the means to express things like poetry and prose. Poetry and prose were an eventual byproduct of what was devised almost exclusively for accounting purposes.
Cameras were invented primarily for practical reasons: to accurately record scenes, assist with surveying, and provide evidence.
Computers were invented primarily to calculate.
With each new technological development, however, creativity and art inevitably seep into the new world through the fault lines these technological shifts create. Art, creativity, and perception shift and adapt to the new landscape of cultural expectations.
It feels almost like, on an artistic level, humanity is always chasing technology to maintain itself. To maintain its sense of humanity. Periodically, it catches it and coalesces on some level. Then the relationship resumes. But only for a time.
The tension between art and technology begins again—and always—when they synergize with each other and form a cultural condition. That is, when a standard of artistic expression, consumption, perception, and expectation becomes congealed. During this coalescence, the current technologies are already beginning to decay while the art forms are not. That is, the speed of technological change and adoption is seemingly always vastly faster than the desire for the means of artistic expression to change.
This is for obvious reasons. Technology is created for practical functions; art is created essentially for itself.
Those are two very different kinds of engines and fuel.
———
If you enjoyed this piece and want to receive more essays like it in the future, you can subscribe to the Pursuit of Wonder newsletter here:
https://pursuitofwonder.kit.com/newsl...
 |
|
|
Pursuit of Wonder
Just wanted to express my gratitude to all those who have already pre-ordered or shared interest in my new book, The Terrible Paradox of Self-Awareness. It’s meant a great deal seeing some of your comments on it and the surrounding ideas in recent videos.
If this quote from the book resonates with you, I think the whole book will too.
It comes out March 10, 2026, and if you’re interested, you can pre-order it here:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0F...
Other retailers:
https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/...
 |
|
|
Pursuit of Wonder
Powerful lines from a letter Vincent van Gogh sent his brother, Theo van Gogh, in July 1882:
“What am I in the eyes of most people—a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person—somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low.
All right, then—even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.
That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion.
Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.”
 |
|
|
Pursuit of Wonder
My new book is coming!
After two years of working on it, I'm so excited to finally share my upcoming book: 'The Terrible Paradox of Self-Awareness.'
In an age when we are aware of so much, self-awareness can feel like both a gift and a curse. This book explores that paradox.
It is perhaps my darkest and most candid book yet. It pushes and pulls at the tension between self-awareness, suffering, and solace, while striving toward hope and redemption.
It releases on March 10, 2026, and you can pre-order your copy now:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0F...
All other retailers:
https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/...
(select from the "Paperback" and "eBook" dropdown menus)
More than anything I’ve written, this book is meant to be grappled with and experienced—to both unsettle and comfort, leaving you questioning, reflecting, and ultimately seeing everything differently.
I’ll share more over the coming months.
 |
|
Friends
Channel Comments
|
theowinton8330
(6 years ago)
Yes it gets rid of anxiety, but it will give you an existential crisis
|
|
tonipellengaire325
(4 years ago)
me: am i worthless?
|
|
nosik673
(5 years ago)
The lack of emotion in his voice just makes it better
|
|
TedStriker-z4n
(1 month ago)
This puts things into perspective. We humans get so caught up in trivial matters it blinds us from the wonders and reality of our existence.
|
|
dianebosleytaylor9451
(3 weeks ago)
At 75 ALL these exact thoughts are with me everyday. Nothing really matters. Just be calm and try to enjoy whatever is left of your life. C’è Serra Serra
|
|
Johncena-od8gu
(5 years ago)
"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day thinking it's forever" - Carl Sagan
|
|
jeffwatson7315
(4 years ago)
At 20 you care what people think.
|
|
habneko
(6 years ago)
“You are here” shows earth
|
|
kyradunston7624
(5 years ago)
When rent comes around this is what I’m going to show my rent lady.
|
|
JayDonagh
(6 years ago)
It's weird how most of us living on Earth will never meet or even acknowledge each other's existence. For example, if you're reading my comment; this is probably the first and last time you'll ever see me.
|
|
rickyrichreacts9667
(11 months ago)
I’m terrified of the thought of dying but yet I don’t want to be here anymore.. truly
|
|
duckwastooken
(6 years ago)
*Me having a panic attack*
|
|
loricsen_3138
(6 years ago (edited))
So basically...
|
|
user-lw5oc1tt8k
(6 years ago (edited))
~Anxiety has left the chat~
|
|
robinarmstrongsworkshop
(1 year ago)
I love that this teaches us that anything we think or worry about is insignificant to the universe, but also that it means that against a background of worthlessness, literally anything we think or do has meaning.
|
|
tjwood51x63
(4 years ago)
Isn’t it strange how knowing you’re insignificant brings you more peace then anxiety
|
|
ThisIsMickeyBurner
(5 years ago)
The most complicated thing about life is finding out how simple it is
|
|
justsomeguy4260
(4 years ago)
“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
|
Add comment