I swear this youtube thing sucks me in every time I come across a computer. It's a real problem. Or would be if I had stuff to do. But really, do we need the threat of consequences to do something constructive? Isn't the threat dying alone and full of regret for a wasted life enough?

If I were as romantic as I once was back when I was a mere child all those years ago (about 6 years ago) I might say that we shouldn't need threats to do something good. One's own intrinsic desire to create should be enough to drive productive work. Okay, maybe I might still say that*, my point is expecting people to do good things based on intrinsic desire is as naive as saying that the free market can self-regulate.

Social incentives and rules, for example, are said by sociologists to be the strongest mitigating factor in human interaction. There are a lot of things we don't do because of the consequences we might face from our peers. Even in a society which advocates the free spirit etc. etc., people have to count on positive interaction with others in order to get their needs met. Imagine if everyone simultaneously decided to exclude you. You couldn't buy food, you couldn't ride the bus or get gas for your car, you couldn't earn money or even panhandle. You'd die. Or live in the jungle and become a wild ape man. Sounds like a great idea for a story!

Anyway, hopefully some social incentive will push me away from the computer now. Come on society, develop new conventions in pace with our rapidly developing technologies. Geez.

*I'm sure that most of the artists on this site are not creating in order to comply to some social rule...