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What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

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Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#91

Post by voidhorse »

martythemaniak wrote: post #10

One thing that I find interesting is how none of the great dystopian works of the 20th century featured celebrities as the ruling class. The antagonists are like Bond villains, smart, sophisticated, rational, cruel. A worthy adversary you could respect and feel good about struggling against. Our reality is that we've made our lives so advanced and comfortable, that our fantasies can try to become our reality. I guess…

The Frankfurt school tackled the negative societal side effects of mass media and celebrity directly. Unfortunately, their work is rigorous, complex continental philosophy and so is relatively unknown in the states and does not have the popular appeal of a critique packaged as something more accessible like dystopian fiction.

They're worth checking out though if this sort of "pleasure"/entertainment/late capitalist dystopia theme interests you. Marcuses's One Dimensional Man is probably the work that relates most directly to this sort of thing. Horkheimer and Adorno's work also relates, but less directly, and it's less accessible. A sufficient background in the history of philosophy is prerequisite.

The Faint is also a great synth pop-punk band that quite frequently explores these issues in their music. Coincidentally, they just released an album this past Friday aptly titled Egowerk. Their older album Fascination is also great.

Century of the Self is another resource you can check out. It's a documentary by Adam Curtis about Edward Bernays and the radical shifts in advertising that he helped instate.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#92

Post by coldtea »

rossdavidh wrote: post #86

On the one hand, some very good points. I think a survey of 20th century history strongly supports the idea that Big Media helped determine what kinds of leadership we got, and so it must be the case that 21st century internet media are doing the same. The comparisons of similar trends in education and commerce are worth reading (if over-long). On the other hand, the underlying assumption is that the revolt against e…

>On the other hand, the underlying assumption is that the revolt against elite policy preferences, not only in the U.S. but in Europe and elsewhere, is entirely devoid of rational motivation.

That's the mainstream narrative, because like Maria Antoinette the 10% cannot ever consider why anyone (unless they're a faulty person) would ever be dissatisfied with the status quo in power, business, culture, economy, and so on. Except in their constrained pet causes, of course.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#93

Post by coldtea »

voidhorse wrote: post #91
martythemaniak wrote: post #10

One thing that I find interesting is how none of the great dystopian works of the 20th century featured celebrities as the ruling class. The antagonists are like Bond villains, smart, sophisticated, rational, cruel. A worthy adversary you could respect and feel good about struggling against. Our reality is that we've made our lives so advanced and comfortable, that our fantasies can try to become our reality. I guess…

The Frankfurt school tackled the negative societal side effects of mass media and celebrity directly. Unfortunately, their work is rigorous, complex continental philosophy and so is relatively unknown in the states and does not have the popular appeal of a critique packaged as something more accessible like dystopian fiction. They're worth checking out though if this sort of "pleasure"/entertainment/late capitalist d…

Well, for something US-made and more appealing to the less-continental reading tastes, Christopher Lasch is perhaps mandatory on this subject:

The Culture of Narcissism

The Revolt of the Elites

Haven in a Heartless World

The Minimal Self

and so on.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#94

Post by coldtea »

deathhand wrote: post #76
dkarl wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to see celebrities as anything other than an especially visible subset of people clawing their way into the ranks of the wealthy. Hereditary celebrity is possible, but wealthy celebrities mostly don't try to make their children celebrities. The ones who seem (subjectively) like the smartest choose to gift their children the traditional advantages of wealth, education, and connections.

To add a current day example: Jay-Z and Beyonce's child has their Instagram professionally done: https://www.instagram.com/blueivy.carter/?hl=en

Almost all rich celebrities have that.

Even Instagram only, average wealth, influencers, making like $1M a year or so, have whole teams of people working for their Instagram.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#95

Post by vanderZwan »

rossdavidh wrote: post #86

On the one hand, some very good points. I think a survey of 20th century history strongly supports the idea that Big Media helped determine what kinds of leadership we got, and so it must be the case that 21st century internet media are doing the same. The comparisons of similar trends in education and commerce are worth reading (if over-long). On the other hand, the underlying assumption is that the revolt against e…

> It discounts without comment the possibility that the pre-internet style of governance had substantive problems which the working class didn't like (e.g. globalization leading to a race to the bottom in manufacturing wages).

It's there between the lines: the author mentions the power of the big companies in the 20th century to shape the narrative through mass media and a lack of proper information among the public, and how that power is now crumbling and how the narrative is being democratized.

Basically, it boils down to mutual knowledge, and large shifts in that causes power-shifts in society.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-son3EJTrU&t=7m40s

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#96

Post by vanderZwan »

tsunamifury wrote: post #64
martythemaniak wrote: post #10

One thing that I find interesting is how none of the great dystopian works of the 20th century featured celebrities as the ruling class. The antagonists are like Bond villains, smart, sophisticated, rational, cruel. A worthy adversary you could respect and feel good about struggling against. Our reality is that we've made our lives so advanced and comfortable, that our fantasies can try to become our reality. I guess…

Have you considered that the rational bond villains use celebrities as a visibility and accountability shield to accomplish goals that would otherwise be shut down if proposed directly?

"Celebrity isn’t just harmless fun – it’s the smiling face of the corporate machine" - George Monbiot

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/20/celebr...

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#97

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

ajmurmann wrote: post #51
axaxs wrote: post #6

For anyone just skimming comments - this is a very well written, well researched, thoughtful, and objective piece. That's pretty rare in today's climate. Definitely worth the read. It's the first time I can remember signing up for a newsletter voluntarily, despite my general distaste for those types of popovers.

If you like this article, I recommend the Martin Gurri book that is frequently chief in the article: "The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium". This article reads largely like a summary of that book. You'll also enjoy his blog https://thefifthwave.wordpress.com/

thanks for that. Marc Andreessen did a thread on this with some highlights that make me want to read it https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1015665031474606081

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#98

Post by geuszb »

If the main point is that we moved from a state of information scarcity to a state of information abundance, one piece is missing in this article: abundance is not, by itself, utility — to turn abundance into utility, you need one of a very small number of organizations that have dug significantly deep competitive moats around them (such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, or even Wikipedia). It's not altogether clear that these new gatekeepers won't start applying the same recipes (of vertical integration, for example) to re-consolidate the industries around them.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#99

Post by jstewartmobile »

blueboo wrote: post #48

It's nicely written but I don't know how thoughtful it is. > Big institutions, whose dominance once seemed eternal, are on the brink of collapse. > The explosion of information has undermined and obsoleted the 20th-century organizational model. Big brands are losing market share. Big universities are going bankrupt. Big political parties are splintering and losing their control over the political narrative. Isn't the…

I wouldn't even give it "nicely written". Nicely presented, maybe...

Compared to all of the things he's quoting from--Chomsky, McLuhan, Caplan, etc.--this is far more sizzle than steak.

Maybe if he had some point to make with the source material, that would have saved it. Instead, it's like he couldn't choose between writing the McKinsey version of a book report, or an alternative intro to Fight Club.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#100

Post by helen___keller »

jononor wrote: post #65

The article argues that college bundles education and signaling (of competence). And that as information becomes more available, and college tuition costs skyrocket new signalling mechanisms are emerging / will emerge. What are these new signaling mechanisms?

I would imagine it depends on the industry. In software, things like side projects, githubs, knowing the latest hip technologies, and being able to whip up the coolest algorithms during interviews are strong signals.
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