Autopilots are inhuman. They take away all responsibility. All tension. This is great if you have to travel from A to B – a well defined path with a roadmap. Not so good if you have to build something great. Something that people need to relate to. Something that needs a response. That needs responsibility and effort.

Any great art comes with humanity built in. That means it has a tension built in. To be human is to be constantly in a state of tension. Light and shade. Contrast.

Think of any great story you have heard. The hero likely wasn’t all good. Similarly you could probably identify with the villain to an uncomfortable degree. If not, there is no tension and a boring lack of humanity.

Will it work out? Despite all the forces against us (think of gravity, atrophy, ageing) we can create wonderful art (think of blues music, Shakespeare, skyscrapers). But it will never happen without recognising the imperfect humanity in everyone. That should be step one.

Step two is turning off your phone and getting to work.