Culture Is Stuck
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Culture Is Stuck
1–10 of 89 posts
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#2This has been written about before and sometimes referred to as the "end of history". One author made the same observation about music as this author did about fashion: one could go back in time and no one would be shocked by what they heard or notice it was from the future. Whereas the difference from 1985 to 1995 was mindblowing by comparison.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#3Culture often grows with technological advancement. For example, electronics gave us rap music (from samplers), techno, 3D animation, video games. All of those brought in a lot of fresh and new ideas to the table for a couple decades until it stagnated.
I’m hopeful that the coming A.I revolution will lead to the next stage of culture.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#4I was discussing this with my my wife this morning, she had a good phrase for what's happening - "The homogenization of culture".
I think she's right, the algorithmic curation of how we consume media has replaced the self and community curation of before. That "algorithm" has become the homogenising agent. I fear how AI based generative media may continue or even amplify this effect.
Imagine a future where the algorithm doesn't just recommend media based on what you consume, but generates completely unique media for you.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#5Culture often grows with technological advancement. For example, electronics gave us rap music (from samplers), techno, 3D animation, video games. All of those brought in a lot of fresh and new ideas to the table for a couple decades until it stagnated. I’m hopeful that the coming A.I revolution will lead to the next stage of culture.
One comment 3 minutes ago and it starts the same way as mine but I am not so sure. I think underlying demographic trends (which at the moment almost seem like immutable laws) will change our culture irreversibly. What is it going to be like when global human population is below replacement rate?
I cannot imagine the psychology of such a society.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#6Culture often grows with technological advancement. For example, electronics gave us rap music (from samplers), techno, 3D animation, video games. All of those brought in a lot of fresh and new ideas to the table for a couple decades until it stagnated. I’m hopeful that the coming A.I revolution will lead to the next stage of culture.
One comment 3 minutes ago and it starts the same way as mine but I am not so sure. I think underlying demographic trends (which at the moment almost seem like immutable laws) will change our culture irreversibly. What is it going to be like when global human population is below replacement rate? I cannot imagine the psychology of such a society.
Seems like this sets the « flavor » of culture but not the type. For example todays music is more depressing than 20 years ago because the overall psychology changed, but the music is fundamentally still the same. So it’s a mix of both mood and tech advancement?
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#7Culture often grows with technological advancement. For example, electronics gave us rap music (from samplers), techno, 3D animation, video games. All of those brought in a lot of fresh and new ideas to the table for a couple decades until it stagnated. I’m hopeful that the coming A.I revolution will lead to the next stage of culture.
I'm surprised at this take, since so far AI has mainly reduced the cost of creating content similar to what already exists.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#8Culture often grows with technological advancement. For example, electronics gave us rap music (from samplers), techno, 3D animation, video games. All of those brought in a lot of fresh and new ideas to the table for a couple decades until it stagnated. I’m hopeful that the coming A.I revolution will lead to the next stage of culture.
I feel A.I. will definitely usher in a new culture. One example of the shift will be on Instagram (and any other influencer-led social media platform):
How will human influencers compete with perfectly crafted A.I. influencers? Imagine a Belle Delphine for any niche audience. It'll be impossible to retain any attention as a limited human being, so they will mostly disappear from social media, and social media itself will transform. Maybe the response will be to take it offline, and go influence in the real world?
Maybe people will emotionally revolt against A.I. and start creating curated "A.I. free zones" filled with anything that wouldn't be likely to be generated by an A.I., and the new hipsters will look down on A.I. generated content or whatever is derivative of that content.
On the flip side, many people are likely to embrace A.I. content and start creating insane things that wouldn't be possible before. People will wear A.I. generated fashion accessories, and create media that can only be traversed and experienced through an A.I. companion.
Ultimately, it will change our psychology, and the way we think about the world and ourselves.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#9Theres a theory that the black plague led to the enlightenment.
The landed monopolistic rich had their foot on the necks of the poor for so long during the dark ages that when 50% of all people were killed it actually allowed new opportunities to arise and new people in nepotistic positions and the economy to flow again. This allowed a flourishing middle class to arise again, which gives more people free time to use however they want.
It's also theorized that WW2 had the same effect on the middle/lower class prosperity for almost a century.
Growing up in the '90s it was super easy to get a cheap apartment and a job as a waiter and just play in a band or write a book or work on some passion project. This also allowed huge groups of people to congregate in the same spot to develop crazy subcultures for their passions (i.e. grunge, cbgbs, Hollywood, etc )
Now were losing that middle class edge and everything being so expensive the friction to do any sort of risky activity makes it almost impossible unless your parents are already rich.
I personally think that when you take away the ability for people to explore their passions because they're working two jobs to survive it removes culture and takes potential genius out of the human race.
I wonder if this is the beginning of regressing to some sort of human mean of massive inequality that won't be broken again until another war, revolution, or plague.
That's the cynical economic take. There could be other reasons as well, like maybe we're too comfortable.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#10I was discussing this with my my wife this morning, she had a good phrase for what's happening - "The homogenization of culture". I think she's right, the algorithmic curation of how we consume media has replaced the self and community curation of before. That "algorithm" has become the homogenising agent. I fear how AI based generative media may continue or even amplify this effect. Imagine a future where the algori…
AI generative media is going to let single individuals create more than all human knowledge to this point.
We're entering a Cambrian explosion on a personal level.
The real worry is that we may never want to leave.