### Subtitle: In the end, civilization must carry forward by eliminating others as a form of reassurance
The content industry of this era is undergoing a quiet but brutal transformation.
People think they are consuming content:
* news
* documentaries
* films and TV series
* YouTube
* books
But if you look closely, something becomes clear:
Most people are not actually looking for “information.”
They are not looking for “truth.”
They are not even looking for “entertainment.”
---
## I. The Three Old Explanations of Content Are Failing
We used to explain cultural products in three ways:
### 1. Emotional explanation: people want comfort
But reality shows:
Blockbusters still exist, but profit margins are shrinking.
Emotional consumption has not disappeared, but it is being diluted.
---
### 2. Realist explanation: people want truth
But reality shows:
Highly realistic films and shows often perform poorly commercially.
The closer something gets to reality, the harder it is to sustain returns.
---
### 3. Success explanation: people want templates
But reality shows:
Once success content becomes saturated, templates themselves devalue.
Because:
> Success increasingly looks like a self-referential loop of proof.
---
So a question emerges:
If people are not truly consuming comfort, not truth, not templates—
then what are they actually consuming?
---
## II. Content Industry Is Losing Its Ability to “Explain the World”
At a deeper level:
The content industry is losing a core function:
> Turning the world into a comprehensible structure.
When the world is in an expansion phase:
* films tell stories of hope
* news tells stories of growth
* self-help tells paths to success
But when the world enters a low-growth structure:
all narratives begin to fail.
Because:
> Without growth, there is no stable narrative closure.
---
## III. The Future Valuable Form: Executable Narrative
A new form is emerging:
> Narrative is no longer just storytelling, but path simulation.
It resembles Marco Polo’s The Travels of Marco Polo:
On the surface, it is a travel record.
But underneath, it is:
* trade routes
* geopolitical structure
* resource distribution
* risk mapping
It can even function as:
> a pre-action world model.
---
In today’s terms, this becomes:
* technological pathway simulations
* business model mapping
* geo-economic structure analysis
* industrial deployment scripts
It is not just telling a story.
It is providing:
> an interface manual for entering the next world.
---
## IV. Why This Kind of Content Is Extremely Rare
Because it requires a high threshold:
> narrative ability + structural reasoning + real-world execution sense.
Most creators do not possess all three.
So the industry collapses into two extremes:
* pure entertainment
* pure abstract analysis
The middle layer—“executable narrative”—almost disappears.
---
## V. Open Narrative Is Becoming a New Competitive Form
A new experiment is emerging:
Turning narrative into open structure:
* Wattpad
* Substack
* open worldbuilding systems
* trainable narrative models
Its logic is:
> Instead of waiting to be selected, directly expose the structure.
But the problem is:
Most people cannot recognize the value even when the structure is exposed.
---
## VI. The Real Problem Is Not “Lack of Opportunity”
The deeper truth is:
> Opportunity is not scarce—recognition of opportunity is.
This produces a structural stratification:
* a small group can recognize pathways
* a larger group can only recognize outcomes
* an even larger group can only recognize emotions
---
## VII. The Brutal Mechanism of Civilization
Once this stratification forms, civilization does not stop.
It continues operating:
* those who recognize opportunity move forward
* those who can execute capture resources
* those who cannot are gradually marginalized
Then a more subtle mechanism emerges:
> the success of a few is used to explain the failure of many.
Because this is necessary to maintain systemic stability.
---
## VIII. Conclusion
So the question is never:
“Is there opportunity?”
The real question is:
> When opportunity appears in front of you, do you have the structural capability to recognize it?
In this structure, civilization does not actively eliminate everyone.
It simply:
> moves forward with those who can continue, and uses their outcomes to reassure those who cannot follow.
And when this reassurance mechanism reaches its extreme, people may finally realize:
It was never that opportunity disappeared.
It was that:
> you never recognized what it looked like in the first place.
c/o Substack / Wattpad open-source projects
1 person likes this
This is interesting to read.
I've a novel out next year, and the publisher has given it to an agency to shop the screen rights. I retain rights to my first two novels but haven't done much about pitchi...
Expand commentThis is interesting to read.
I've a novel out next year, and the publisher has given it to an agency to shop the screen rights. I retain rights to my first two novels but haven't done much about pitching them.
I write horror, which is having a moment, so you never know! Good luck Salma Hassaballa I'll be interested to know how it goes.
1 person likes this
Thank you, Lindbergh. I agree that a strong screenplay can reduce risk and make a project easier to market. At the same time, I know some projects have begun with underlying IP and found adaptation pa...
Expand commentThank you, Lindbergh. I agree that a strong screenplay can reduce risk and make a project easier to market. At the same time, I know some projects have begun with underlying IP and found adaptation partners later in the process, so I am trying to better understand how common—or uncommon—that path is today.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience.
2 people like this
Thank you, Alex! Congratulations on your upcoming novel—that's exciting news.
It sounds like your publisher has put a strong process in place for exploring screen adaptation opportunities. In my case,...
Expand commentThank you, Alex! Congratulations on your upcoming novel—that's exciting news.
It sounds like your publisher has put a strong process in place for exploring screen adaptation opportunities. In my case, I'm taking a different route, as I currently retain the rights and am exploring direct conversations with producers, managers, and development executives.
I agree, horror is definitely having a moment, and I hope that creates exciting opportunities for you. I'll be happy to share any lessons I learn from this process, and I'd love to hear how things develop with your novel as well.
Wishing you the very best of luck!
1 person likes this
Thank you for asking these good questions. As a scriptwriter and editor, I’ve found that while many executives prefer screenplays, strong novels, treatments, and pitch decks can still attract interest...
Expand commentThank you for asking these good questions. As a scriptwriter and editor, I’ve found that while many executives prefer screenplays, strong novels, treatments, and pitch decks can still attract interest. If no screenplay exists, it’s completely fine to clarify that and provide the novel, treatment, or pitch deck instead while explaining you’re seeking adaptation support. Looking forward to hearing others’ experiences as well.
Thank you, Jane. I really appreciate your perspective. That's exactly the balance I was hoping to better understand—the industry's preference for screenplays while recognizing that strong underlying I...
Expand commentThank you, Jane. I really appreciate your perspective. That's exactly the balance I was hoping to better understand—the industry's preference for screenplays while recognizing that strong underlying IP can still attract interest. My goal is to bring the novel to the screen through the right creative and production partnerships. In my case, the project is a completed psychological thriller novel, and I have a treatment, lookbook, and pitch materials available.
Thank you again for sharing your experience and encouragement.