83. Not Everything's Worth Optimizing

Studio Sessions

Studio Sessions
83. Not Everything's Worth Optimizing
Oct 13, 2026 Season 4 Episode 3 Matthew O'Brien, Alex Carter

Alex spent years feeling he was wasting his time, and now thinks he was filling a bucket that’s finally pouring out. One of the things pouring out is an acting workshop, which takes Matt back to acting school, where he spent most of his time managing his lines instead of acting. Improv was the only performing he loved, because it’s all listening and responding. Alex thinks improv is writing without the edit.

Matt says it feels like the old Alex is back, after years when making things for a living had him going through the motions. Alex also built a new website for the show, and Matt sees their differences fitting together in it. It holds every word we’ve said, so you can follow how our thinking has changed. On AI, we agree that image generation misses what a photograph is, something captured. Alex argues that writing a personal letter with AI skips the reason to write one, which is finding out what you feel. Near the end, a young customer at a friend’s shop thought the staff picks weren’t for sale, and we figure she’s never known a store where the staff point out the good stuff. -Ai

Mentioned in this episode: studiosessionspod.com, GeoCities, TCM’s The Plot Thickens: Stanley, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Office Space, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Claude, ChatGPT, Home Alone, Slap Shot, Jackie Chan’s Police Story.

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Episode Artwork 83. Not Everything's Worth Optimizing 1:00:19 Episode Artwork 82. Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't: Give Yourself a Year 1:15:09 Episode Artwork 81. Creative Momentum and Obstacles As The Path 1:22:59 Episode Artwork 80. What Happens To Your Ideas When Algorithms Leave? 59:08 Episode Artwork 79. We've Been Sold Enough Chairs - Thoughts on The Future of Ai 1:00:32 Episode Artwork 78. Waiting to Talk - Conversational Narcissism, the Ego Myth, and Reading a Room 1:17:57 Episode Artwork 77. The Camera Opens Doors 1:11:24 Episode Artwork 76. Matt Went to the Movies 1:12:47 Episode Artwork 75. Leave Room for the Accident 42:42 Episode Artwork 74. Proof of Work or How the Floor Gets Raised 1:15:44 Episode Artwork 73. That's a Pretty Good Tree 1:37:22 Episode Artwork 72. The Critic Problem: Why Great Art Resists Easy Explanations 1:35:53 Episode Artwork 71. What If Success Is The Unmeasurable Part? 1:19:47 Episode Artwork 70. You Output What You Input 55:26 Episode Artwork 69. What If Your Best Work Needs Less Sharing 1:15:24 Episode Artwork 68. Protect The Work At All Costs 1:06:56 Episode Artwork 67. Leica Luck 1:12:48 Episode Artwork 66. Back to Square One 1:05:56 Episode Artwork 65. Attempting A Low-Stakes Space For Photography And Conversation: PART 2 57:51 Episode Artwork 64. Attempting A Low-Stakes Space For Photography And Conversation: PART 1 49:52 Episode Artwork 63. Build The Foundation, Lose The Costume, Keep Your Soul 1:21:59 Episode Artwork 62. What Do We Owe The Past When We Build With Its Pieces? 1:09:50 Episode Artwork 61. Are We Curating Identity Or Chasing Dopamine? 1:14:01 Episode Artwork 60. Artists Make Ways of Seeing, Not Objects 1:17:01 Episode Artwork 59. Rethinking Collaboration: Why Working Together Still Matters 1:23:28