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absorption

people play the highest game they can imagine. if they can't imagine a better one, they get absorbed into the wrong one.

the principle​

people take the best deal they can think of. if the only deal you've been taught to imagine is signing to UMG or one of its million subsidiaries, you're going to do it. especially if you don't have anyone advising you otherwise.

that's absorption. you enter a game you didn't design, play by rules you didn't set, and optimize for outcomes that serve someone else's interests. you don't even call it a game. that's the deepest form of absorption: not knowing you're in one.

most people who get absorbed aren't stupid. they're not even unaware of the trade-offs. they're thinking: "this is not ideal, but who else do I partner with?" or worse, they're not thinking at all. they're just signing things for the dopamine.

why it happens​

people play the highest game they can imagine. the key word is "imagine." if nobody has shown you a better game exists, the rigged one looks like the only option. UMG looks like the dream. the exploitative management deal looks like the big break. the VC term sheet looks like validation.

the systems that absorb people are not accidentally designed. they are optimized to look like the best available option to someone who has never been shown an alternative. this is how the old music industry, the old tech industry, the old nonprofit industrial complex all work. they absorb talented people by being the only game those people can see.

the guardian angel function​

the job of people who want to save the people they care about is two things:

  1. illuminate the nature of games. help people see that what they're in is a game with rules, incentives, and outcomes designed by someone else. most people have never framed their situation this way. the framing itself is liberating.

  2. create new games that are more aligned with the flourishing of the people they care about. it is not enough to show someone the game is rigged. you have to offer a better one. otherwise you just made them cynical, which is worse than absorbed.

this is the guardian angel function. imagos at scale. not saving people from above. standing next to them and saying: "there is a better game. let me show you."

the snap​

you can get saved from absorption in a snap. but it's a conscious decision. you don't accidentally snap your fingers. there's friction. you have to choose to be free.

the snap is the moment someone sees the game for what it is and decides they're done playing it. instant. a binary switch: you're in the game or you're out. the old systems count on people never reaching that moment.

our job is to create the conditions where the snap happens. the community, the vocabulary, the alternative infrastructure, the trusted voices. all of it exists so that when someone is ready to snap out, there is something real on the other side.

what absorption looks like in practice​

  • an artist signs away their masters because they think that's what getting signed means
  • a founder takes a term sheet that gives away board control because they think that's how fundraising works
  • a nonprofit leader warps their mission to fit grant KPIs because they think that's the only way to fund the work
  • a creative takes a brand deal that compromises their voice because they think that's how you monetize
  • a talented person joins a company that burns them out because they think that's what a career looks like

in every case: the person played the highest game they could imagine. the game was wrong. nobody showed them a better one in time.

the imagos response​

every piece of imagos infrastructure exists to break this cycle:

  • remnet is the alternative community. a survival network where the games are designed for flourishing, where trusted voices share real alternatives, and where absorption into extractive systems becomes harder because you can see the better option.
  • the workshops are the illumination. showing people what their day could look like, what their business could look like, what their creative process could look like if they weren't playing someone else's game.
  • the skill hub is the toolkit. practical workflows, life flows, field notes shared by peers who already snapped out. tangible things you can use today.

the dream is that an artist in our community never signs a bad deal because they didn't know better. never gets absorbed because nobody showed them the alternative. never plays the wrong game because the right one was invisible to them.

we are the guardian angel at scale.

related: the divine creative mandate | remnet | philosophy | not starstruck