{"id":4894,"date":"2015-06-27T20:31:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T00:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=4894"},"modified":"2025-04-15T21:34:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T01:34:21","slug":"thinking-about-the-worth-of-the-future-logistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=4894","title":{"rendered":"Thinking About the Worth of the Future: Logistics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20150627\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been trying to take a little time, these past few days, to talk about money. To talk about the framework and architecture of where A Future Worth Thinking About is going and what we will be doing as we integrate with Technoccult.net<\/a>. There was even going to be this whole thing about how I literally don’t know how to juggle. But after losing the post (twice), I’ve decided that the tone of that post just wasn’t the way to go.<\/p>\n

I know we’re usually encouraged to not discuss anything as gauche as cash, in Western Society, but since we’re somehow still using<\/b><\/i> a system of psychologically transferred and collectively-agreed-upon value to determine who gets to eat food, I say fuck it. Let’s talk it out. So let’s just get to it:<\/p>\n

When I started A Future Worth Thinking About, last year, I wanted it to be the main face of my major writing projects. I wanted it to be the place where I could host podcasts and vlogs. I wanted it to be the project name that people thought of when they were looking for my large nonacademic essays. In short, I wanted it to be the umbrella under which I could do everything that mattered to me. Thing is, I only ever saw it being this in addition to<\/strong><\/em> everything else I had on my plate.<\/p>\n

For those of you just meeting me, this isn’t my only gig. I write, I teach, I guest blog, I appear on podcasts, I organize conventions and book signings, I consult on projects, I edit, I research, and a part of me has always seen these as separate actions, all being done in the service of keeping me moving, interested, fed, clothed, sheltered, alive. I somehow couldn’t see them as a single (intricate, complex, balanced) process, each component acting as input into, modulation condition upon, and output of the collective workings of the others with itself. Which is weird, right? Because that’s basically a really broad description of a cybernetic system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s taken me this long, but I’m seeing that all of these things can all be one thing. This thing, right here. And so, as this has come together I’ve noticed, as I noted elsewhere this week, that I keep catching myself running the calculation in my head of how much money these projects\u2014this project\u2014needs to net me on a monthly basis, before it can be my primary source of income. And it’s a number I can actually wrap my head around.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s usually considered impolite, gauche, boorish, whatever, to talk about money, but if you’re even here, reading this particular sentence, then chances are pretty good<\/em><\/strong> that you know that this venture is A) my life’s work, and B) supported in largest part by Patreon<\/a> subscriptions. Which is nice because Patreon’s architecture has built-in milestones, to make everyone involved feel like they’re doing really great work, and can have some sort of immediate gratification, because we all like that. But the thing of it is, I also work retail. I do so because have a gap in my income, between AFWTA and teaching. But I think this has also reflected a gap in my thinking, because my Patreon milestone goals previously topped out at $400 per month.<\/p>\n

USD$400 per month is the level at which felt I could cut down on retail work enough\u2014enough<\/strong><\/em>\u2014to focus on teaching and the kinds of audio visual work I want to do on this site. But I’ve realised that that’s intermediate thinking and that, ultimately, I want to be able to do only this.<\/p>\n

In order to work only<\/strong><\/em> on AFWTA (and probably teach one or two classes a semester, because I love teaching)\u2014that is, in order to have time to research, make, edit, and transcribe (or record) essays, podcasts, video chats, and interviews\u2014I need to be making at least USD$2,000 per month, or roughly ten times what I’m making, right now. So do I expect that this will happen, tomorrow? No. It’d be super<\/strong> <\/em>nice, but it’s just not going to be that soon. But I think it is<\/strong><\/em> attainable in the near future, if we work together: You engaging the material and telling people about how much you love what we do on this site, and me doing the work of writing and talking with you and everything else I listed.<\/p>\n

Building a multimedia empire is no small task, so, lest you think I’m flying totally chartless, here’s my foregrounding for what I want this to become:<\/p>\n