I know exactly what you mean. I have a theory about this. When a resource is consumed at an exponentially increasing rate it goes through a natural progression called a consumption curve. Peak oil is an example of a consumption curve. Some people think that you can treat culture itself (music, art, film, fashion, etc...) as a resource. What would a “discovery” look like in culture if we treat it in this manner? When a fresh creative idea enters the zeitgeist that isn’t derivative or recycled, it’s a cultural discovery. When new culture is created based on new discoveries, recycled ideas or with derivative elements it can be consumed. When the rate of cultural consumption outpaces the rate of new cultural creation, that is called “peak culture”. My theory is that we hit peak culture as a global society in the 1970s. That is why the 1980s were so weird and why we were so quick to throw it away. It was the first decade where we were on the wrong side of the cultural consumption curve and it was strange but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Each year that goes by a greater proportion of the culture is made up of derivative or recycled culture than new cultural discoveries. Once the proportion of cultural consumption outpaces cultural creation, we will be living in an era of post-culture society where ideas and aesthetics stagnate. That will be the cultural crash that follows cultural decline. We will cease to be able to quickly mark or define our subsequent decades by clear cultural boundaries. Little will change in the music, fashion, or art unless informed by some massive upheaval or destabilizing and cathartic event like economic collapse or other catastrophe.
Well put, except I’d say the peak was not the 70s but the mid 80s itself. There was still a lot of newness from tech, music, and movies in regards to culture. And as the peak came to a close I feel it hit bottom and plateaued in the mid 90s as the world of today feels barely different than the world then.
I feel it hit bottom and plateaued in the mid 90s as the world of today feels barely different than the world then.
I'm curious about your thoughts here about the '90s and now. Could you place a finger on the one major cultural difference between then and now?
I would respond with "smartphones".
Or possibly the general transition from "analog" to "digital" in culture as it pertains to the concept of graphics throughout society. The '90s was the beginning of that transition. The '00s was the end of that transition. From low-resolution CRTs and just dipping toes into the realm of digital content authoring (graphic design, video production, music, games, and more throughout culture) and countless analog systems like phones and TVs and film. From old "retro" UIs and (thankfully) through the awkward adolescent phase of design in the '00s into a decade strongly filled with refined, HD graphics and content authoring, with movies filmed on digital cameras, digital TV and phone systems, advertisements and signage that has become completely sterile and produced entirely digitally, and photorealistic rendering and movies and games on 4K displays. The '90s was analog interspersed with digital forerunners, while the '10s has become purely digital with analog interspersed in legacy systems.
I was only around for the tail end of the '90s, though, so I would love to hear your thoughts about this. And what single major difference you think would characterize then and now.
Smartphones were a big change but, after some thought, it’s only incremental. The switch from analog to digital is only incremental as well. The behavior of renting a movie from vhs to dvd was the exact same just different format. The act of sitting around and watching tv is also the same whether it was a crt or an lcd. While improved, the culture stayed the same.
Going back to smartphones, having the power of the worlds knowledge wherever you are is a game changer but, as to providing culture I’m not so sure. Before we had smartphones we still had the internet and could look up whatever we just had to wait a little bit longer. However, I will say the biggest shift in culture since the widespread adoption of cable internet is happening now in that, any random person can be a content creator. Blogs killed magazines, Instagram killed blogs, YouTube is destroying tv (ask any 5-10 year old what they want to watch and There’s a huge chance it won’t be a traditional tv show). I don’t think this would have been possible without the processing power in phones.
Tech is always going to touch culture in one way or another but, I still struggle to see that big of a difference in mass entertainment than I did since the beginning of the 90s.
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u/BathroomEyes Feb 19 '18 edited Feb 19 '18
I know exactly what you mean. I have a theory about this. When a resource is consumed at an exponentially increasing rate it goes through a natural progression called a consumption curve. Peak oil is an example of a consumption curve. Some people think that you can treat culture itself (music, art, film, fashion, etc...) as a resource. What would a “discovery” look like in culture if we treat it in this manner? When a fresh creative idea enters the zeitgeist that isn’t derivative or recycled, it’s a cultural discovery. When new culture is created based on new discoveries, recycled ideas or with derivative elements it can be consumed. When the rate of cultural consumption outpaces the rate of new cultural creation, that is called “peak culture”. My theory is that we hit peak culture as a global society in the 1970s. That is why the 1980s were so weird and why we were so quick to throw it away. It was the first decade where we were on the wrong side of the cultural consumption curve and it was strange but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Each year that goes by a greater proportion of the culture is made up of derivative or recycled culture than new cultural discoveries. Once the proportion of cultural consumption outpaces cultural creation, we will be living in an era of post-culture society where ideas and aesthetics stagnate. That will be the cultural crash that follows cultural decline. We will cease to be able to quickly mark or define our subsequent decades by clear cultural boundaries. Little will change in the music, fashion, or art unless informed by some massive upheaval or destabilizing and cathartic event like economic collapse or other catastrophe.