And so at some point does monoculture just cease to exist? Or at least, never again exist like it once did, where some high percentage of all people saw some particular movie or heard some particular song. What's interesting about that it's it's kinda a mix of past and future? - ThreadSky

zachweinersmith.bsky.social • 46 days ago

And so at some point does monoculture just cease to exist? Or at least, never again exist like it once did, where some high percentage of all people saw some particular movie or heard some particular song.

What's interesting about that it's it's kinda a mix of past and future?

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jfolson.bsky.social•46 days ago

I think the past you imagine, never happened. There were always traveling minstrels who carried songs from place to place, and there were always songs that were so hugely popular that ~everyone knew them

jfolson.bsky.social•46 days ago

Modern music notation traces back to the 10th century and was used by The Church to ensure that services everywhere in Christendom could play the same music

zachweinersmith.bsky.social•46 days ago

Meaning, part of the lost charm of modernity is that places are less different. You can't -- as you really could only 50 years ago -- wander around rural areas collecting songs that had passed down from long ago and far away and evolved locally over time.

zachweinersmith.bsky.social•46 days ago

One of the cool things about modern media is that it doesn't have to be mass media. If you're really into 1840s chamber music, you probably have several options available. But it's not the old fragmentation of different communities. It's the new fragmentation, down to the individual.

zachweinersmith.bsky.social•46 days ago

I, being a maker of weird media, benefit from this personally. But, I also find it kind of distressing because it seems like an end state you can't get out of, where we have ever less shared life experiences?

bowsy.co.uk•46 days ago

I take heart in the belief that whatever happens, the kids a generation or two down the line will want to do exactly the opposite - just on principle.

zachweinersmith.bsky.social•46 days ago

And while I really appreciate variety, I'm not entirely convinced it makes me better off. Like, variety is one of those weird things were more makes you modestly happier, if at all, where less may make you quite unhappy.

zachweinersmith.bsky.social•46 days ago

Anyway, I dunno. One thing I've wondered about for a while is if we'll see a concerted effort for people to tune out more, just given how intrusive entertainment has become, but I haven't seen any data that suggests it's happening.

johngordon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Funny you say that. I do feel like local counter-culture activities are moving offline to paper posters abs word of mouth. No web presence.

But i have no data

invalid-handle.com•46 days ago

I’ve been thinking about how the ‘middle’ seems to be vanishing in many areas. Economics, politics, media, culture. We have super rich and everyone else, we have extremes of political ideas, of news and as you mention even entertainment. Elements of one areas drives parts of the others too

mpbx3003.bsky.social•46 days ago

Variety is the spice of life, but you need more than spices to live.

Cultural touchstones help to organize societies out of individuals by providing a framework to relate to others.

mia-ironeyes.bsky.social•46 days ago

So, diminishing returns on variety?

dieterjosef.bsky.social•46 days ago

It's not variety that makes you happy but finding something in all the variety that you didn't know it would be interesting to you, like Japanese temple building, or a village where disillusioned hippies have find a place where they can live. There's a lot you will ignore.

ngutten.bsky.social•46 days ago

I think the way out is that sharing is an intentional thing and not something you can't help. So you share when and only if you intend to; you synchronize tastes with another person when and only if you intend to - and that act itself becomes meaningful.

ngutten.bsky.social•46 days ago

Like, there's a whole obscure soundtrack associated with my tabletop gaming groups of the past and connected to in-game events and in-jokes and so on. So we share those references and their particular meaning with each-other, but not with any broad group in the general public.

sinalana.bsky.social•46 days ago

That sounds like a super experience to me but I'm biased - I really love trying things that are entirely new to me.
Also, it seems similar to the endgame of, say, multicellularity. Cells specialize ever further.

mpbx3003.bsky.social•46 days ago

It's actively kinda horrifying, albeit also inspiring.

I once nearly had an existential crisis from seeing multiple kinds of bananas in a grocery store up on a mountain in Virginia in March.

The abundance is good, but the sameness is unsettling.

vincefort.bsky.social•46 days ago

I guess the extreme version of this would be a world where half of the time, I watch stuff like Squid Game, not because I actually like it but because everyone around me talks about it; and the other half, I watch some AI-generated shows that Netflix has produced just for me and nobody else?

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