Do you want to live a predictable life? Can great art ever be predictable? Most people would probably say no to both, but Caroline Levine thinks predictability is more valuable than we usually recognize. Predictability is like putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others: we need to cover the essentials, like shelter and a stable work schedule, in order to achieve our grander ambitions. But predictability isn’t just useful in our personal lives. Whether it’s reliable access to childcare or a unifying protest chant, predictability can also help us in collectively creating social change.
Bonus clips
Works mentioned
– Friends (tv show)
– Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
– Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
– George Moore , Esther Waters
Further reading
The evolution of American protest music (video from Vox)
Margaret Heffernan – The human skills we need in an unpredictable world (video from TED)
Michael Fakhri and Ntina Tzouvala at The Conversation – To reduce world hunger, governments need to think beyond making food cheap
David Robson at BBC Future – How to win at (almost) everything
Carrie Gleason at Slate – Why a Fair Workweek Is the Working-Class Issue of Our Time
Morgan Baila at Refinery29 – Do Gen Z-ers Love Friends As Much As Millennials?
Amelia Abraham at Vice – Contemporary Art Doesn’t Have to Be Pretentious and Confusing
Andy West at BBC News – Homelessness: The dangers of life on the streets
Sarah Ruiz-Grossman at HuffPost – You Don’t Have To March To Be In The Resistance