Post by Pablo Valdivia
Chair-Full Professor European Culture & Literature (RUG) / Academic Director Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies (OSL) / Director Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG)
✅ True story - Me: Dad, you got more than 12.400 readings of your interview in my LinkedIn newsletter. - Dad: How do you know? - Me: LinkedIn has some built-in beautiful metrics that do not lie. You got 90% of the readings out of my own network. This is impressive! - Dad: Meaning? - Me: It means most people reading you are not my followers nor my connections. This is the first time it has happened to my profile. People love you. - Dad: I do not get it. It was just one of the many conversations we usually have. Is it that people do not talk about interesting stuff with each other anymore? Why has having a conversation become so exceptional? - Me: Well, it seems many people seek meaningful and original content and not just reproducing common places or hype jargon… I got so many messages from people who want to meet you after the interview. You are not an AI. People love that: you are authentic. - Dad: I still do not get it. - Me: In general, people do not talk about quality content anymore; they repeat what they heard or what they want to hear, and they cancel what/who do not think as they do: they live in echo chambers and feedback loops. You and I live in hospitality and tolerance for the ideas of others. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, and it is fun! - Dad: I still do not understand it… let’s talk about important matters: meeting in July for some good food and long after-meal conversations? I have to tell you about these books I am reading… - Me: Sure, at my house or yours? By the way, did I tell you that a filmmaker contacted me yesterday, saying he wants to shoot a documentary film about us in conversation? - Dad: Not interested. - Me: I guessed so :) We will meet at my house… also there is this place I want to take you to eat some nice rice and amazing seafood at El Puerto; I will book a table. - Dad: Now you are talking :) - Me: You are a celebrity. - Dad: I do not care. - Me: I know, and I love it. - Dad: ;) ⤵️ If you missed his interview in my last newsletter, you can still read it in the post below. Enjoy!
