Theres 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…
Culture Is Stuck
61–70 of 89 posts
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#62Theres 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…
WW2 was amazing for women’s rights
Same thing happened in the USSR. Wartime needs brought women into the industrial workplace; peace sent them back into the kitchen. So to speak.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#63Theres 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…
WW2 was amazing for women’s rights
1 million American men died so it wasnt awesome for men's rights
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#64Theres 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…
But think of the landed aristocracy before the plague, or the rich in the US before WW2. They had things locked in hard and life was sweet. We're seeing that now with the current classes of the super rich. They are getting stuff locked in and life is absolutely amazing for them. What right does 99.9% of the people have to anything if it even remotely threatens their sweet sweet life?
The sad cynical part is if you think throughout all of human history, the rich have had their foot on the neck of the poor for almost all of it except for a few bright spots here and there.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#65I think this misses this biggest cultural revolution to happen in decades, which is AI assisted art and creativity. It’s been ages since I saw a new paradigm in art that really caught my attention. It seems like elite artists have not had much to say for a few decades aside from navel gazing. Suddenly we have these machines that can produce high quality finished pieces out of our vague whims. With it has come an outp…
Whats the difference between the current “AI” hype and a religion?
There does seems to be a small number of AI maximalists who think the Singularity is going to create a kind of digital god. I rather expect they will be disappointed.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#66The culture is here, it's just not evenly distributed. My own view as a writer and artist, is that there's a relatively consistent amount of creative innovation being done at any given time. It's access to it and promotion of it that varies. Whats happened since the 90s is that rents have consistently risen - meaning physical scenes are enormously less likely to emerge, and (as the author rightly points out) algorith…
Can you share some of that stuff? Where are these great movies I've never heard of? Where are the great books - can't people publish on their own nowadays? I can attest to good music being made, but it's still very slow to evolve compared to the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Tar
Sorry to Bother You
Uncut Gems
Get Out
Tangerine/The Florida Project
Dogtooth
Mad God
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#67Re: Culture Is Stuck
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you share some of that stuff? Where are these great movies I've never heard of? Where are the great books - can't people publish on their own nowadays? I can attest to good music being made, but it's still very slow to evolve compared to the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Re: publishing, sure you can self publish. But your job at that point is no longer as a writer. Your job is now marketing. The potential for people to see your work is directly related to your ability to sell it and arguably not at all related to your capacity to create it. It's not that good work isn't self published, its that there's nothing to make it stand out from the literary equivalent of drop shipping. The au…
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#69The author is entirely incorrect that you won’t be able to differentiate fashion from today and 2007. There was a clean break even if you compare 2013 to 2023. He’s just not very discerning of clothes. And he doesn’t have the benefit of looking at only archival photos that capture the purest expression of cultural moments.
Look at fashion changes through 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995. You didn’t need to be discerning at all to spot differences through the decades.
Re: Culture Is Stuck
#70The author is entirely incorrect that you won’t be able to differentiate fashion from today and 2007. There was a clean break even if you compare 2013 to 2023. He’s just not very discerning of clothes. And he doesn’t have the benefit of looking at only archival photos that capture the purest expression of cultural moments.
I disagree. When watching How I Met Your Mother, I am always astounded that it was filmed in 2005. Practically nothing has changed in daily lives since then.
The skinny suits that NPH wears would look very dated today.