Part 5: The Origin Story
Read the passage carefully before answering the questions.
Larry looked at Mr Globesmith absolutely aghast. No wonder he had been so upset! He knew Mesmer. But how, what had happened? What mad world was this where Giovanni Globesmith, a name that was in itself a revelation, and Milo Mesmer knew each other?
Globesmith sensed the unspoken question in Larry's silence.
"We went to the University of Godmanchester together," he said, wearily. Larry turned his chair fully to face Globesmith, a beacon of curiosity.
As it turned out, Globesmith had not always been a geography teacher. Globesmith had once been a content creator, desperate to spread what he had learned on his geology degree with a global audience. He had met Mesmer, a media studies student, in the Godmanchester Student Union Bar. Mesmer was a Media Studies student at Brainsville College on a Semester abroad. The two had collaborated.
"You and Mesmer worked together," Larry balked. He really couldn't get his head around it.
"Mesmer and I were once close friends," continued Giovanni, "and we both wanted to be successful. At one point Milo really believed in my content. But he was led by view count, like a shark to blood."
He looked mournfully at his toes.
"His content became more and more vibrant, more and more style, less and less substance. He wanted to include fewer facts, less delightful rock content. Sedimentary layers and tectonic plates gave way to click rate and ad revenue. I hated it. I couldn't bear to compromise on our values. But it had already gone too far. Our content had become meaningless. It was increasingly just algorithm fodder. I threatened him."
This was starting to sound more like the Globesmith Larry was familiar with.
Globesmith was suddenly overcome with emotion. A single tear trickled down his cheek. This is hard for me, it was only ten years ago. Larry was torn between sympathy for Globesmith and amazement that he was only in his thirties. Larry had always thought of him as a similar age to the rocks with which he was obsessed. Globesmith had regained his composure by now, ferociously wiping away the tear as if it were a wasp.
"I know what Mesmer is capable of," he said, "I know what he will do if he gets a big enough audience, how little regard he holds for the sanctity of the content creator's role. How important it is that we produce things of value, of import."
Larry frowned — he'd not really given much thought to how the content he watched was made, he just watched it. It was just there, something that existed, not something that was crafted.