In 1968, Andy Warhol said that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote 'Future Shock', where the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation".
In 1991, Douglas Coupland released 'Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture', which depicted through the structure of a framed narrative, the stories of inhabitants of a post-Toffler existence.
On June 11, 2002, Simon Fuller, Fremantle Media North America, and 19 Entertainment presented 'American Idol: The Search for a Superstar'.
Today, I would contend that the accelerated rate of change, coupled with the publics diminishing ability to concentrate, has accelerated Warhol's 15 minutes so fast that it has reached zero point and has nowhere to go but in reverse.
Instead of 15 minutes, the public shows trends of consuming media voraciously with a constant focus on 'what comes next'.
Due to the revolving door format of reality shows, todays stars are actually manufactured with a clearly definable use-by date, to the extent that new entertainers are often criticised for attempting any kind of action toward career longevity.
And in the extreme, entertainers suffer backlash for releasing a second album, or for branching into other areas (ie: acting) in a move to cement future exposure.
The message seems to be that you don't get 15 minutes then fade away any more, you get one quick shot, and then "You are embarrassing now."
This microwave oven entertainment situation has a flow-on effect to society, and of course to younger more impressionable minds, who no doubt wonder why anyone even remembers Led Zeppelin or The Doors. Because entertainment is disposable (and more often than not, free), star power means a lot less than it used to.
So the first single by artist 'X', charting highly this week, is not expected to remain in place. In fact, there is a general belief that artist 'X' will be back at their day job this time next year. As a result, the artists musical integrity (if it exists in the first place), is watered down to the point of irrelevance. If an artist other than the pantheon of record industry superstars (Rihanna, Beyonce, GaGa, Katy Perry, Matchbox 20, Nickelback, etc...) does live to release a follow-up album, they are often hated for it by many of the same people who jumped over each other to get at the first.
The record industry of course is fully aware of this, and encourages (if not exacerbates) this situation, as it allows their top stars to monetise heavily on their safe position, and allows the companies themselves to churn out large volumes of content that is produced extremely cheaply and with no long term artist development expenses to consider. Very clean. This safe market position is tirelessly maintained by huge numbers of behind-the-scenes staff and media, who constantly engineer and promote leaked sex tapes (that everyone involved in is not only aware of, but has signed off on, and is getting paid for), as well as paparazzi stories/videos, and manufactured news/photo opportunities. gossip, and carefully constructed legal allegations.
Let's not forget that reality TV has injected a curious element into this mix- most kids sitting at home, even those without an atom of talent to call their own, fully believe not only that they have a chance at fame too, but that they are actually entitled to it.
And because they believe in this entitlement, their attitude is very much "Hurry up and die so I can have my turn."
We've never had that before.
The socio-musical balance has been upset, and the flipside to this commentary is that young people have become both perpetrators and victims of this cut throat mentality.
Kids have always been unpleasant, but now even more so. Being nice is considered a weakness, there is a constant pressure to retain SWAG, to live without thought for the future or consequences (YOLO), to "Trust no bitch", etc... This aggressive MEME culture values the individual over the collective, without the individual in question actually needing to have any sort of mental/cultural/ personal currency to back up their claim of importance.
It is entitlement as apex predator.
Of course culture can only maintain this direction and frenetic pace for so long before a new paradigm is forced to emerge, and I'm not ashamed to say I have absolutely no idea what it will be.
Technology and science/biology are tending towards collaboration as the standard model, which seems reasonable. And of course this generation will learn a lot of hard personal lessons over the next decade, and will settle as all other generations do/have, into a more societally acceptable/workable mindframe.
But we are a long way off a transhumanist H+ hive-mind/singularity. People are just too absorbed in irrelevance, and their own desire to lead that irrelevance right now. Unless there is a huge personal payoff (superhuman strength, unlimited information and blindingly fast access/processing abilities), there is no reason to give up on that dream of fame and pecuniary advantage.
The concept of an altruistic/benelovent culture swing seems more like science fiction than human/animal chimeras (which have existed in China since 2003) do right now.
That's really saying something about us.
This is knifey, from 'the internet'.
In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote 'Future Shock', where the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation".
In 1991, Douglas Coupland released 'Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture', which depicted through the structure of a framed narrative, the stories of inhabitants of a post-Toffler existence.
On June 11, 2002, Simon Fuller, Fremantle Media North America, and 19 Entertainment presented 'American Idol: The Search for a Superstar'.
Today, I would contend that the accelerated rate of change, coupled with the publics diminishing ability to concentrate, has accelerated Warhol's 15 minutes so fast that it has reached zero point and has nowhere to go but in reverse.
Instead of 15 minutes, the public shows trends of consuming media voraciously with a constant focus on 'what comes next'.
Due to the revolving door format of reality shows, todays stars are actually manufactured with a clearly definable use-by date, to the extent that new entertainers are often criticised for attempting any kind of action toward career longevity.
And in the extreme, entertainers suffer backlash for releasing a second album, or for branching into other areas (ie: acting) in a move to cement future exposure.
The message seems to be that you don't get 15 minutes then fade away any more, you get one quick shot, and then "You are embarrassing now."
This microwave oven entertainment situation has a flow-on effect to society, and of course to younger more impressionable minds, who no doubt wonder why anyone even remembers Led Zeppelin or The Doors. Because entertainment is disposable (and more often than not, free), star power means a lot less than it used to.
So the first single by artist 'X', charting highly this week, is not expected to remain in place. In fact, there is a general belief that artist 'X' will be back at their day job this time next year. As a result, the artists musical integrity (if it exists in the first place), is watered down to the point of irrelevance. If an artist other than the pantheon of record industry superstars (Rihanna, Beyonce, GaGa, Katy Perry, Matchbox 20, Nickelback, etc...) does live to release a follow-up album, they are often hated for it by many of the same people who jumped over each other to get at the first.
The record industry of course is fully aware of this, and encourages (if not exacerbates) this situation, as it allows their top stars to monetise heavily on their safe position, and allows the companies themselves to churn out large volumes of content that is produced extremely cheaply and with no long term artist development expenses to consider. Very clean. This safe market position is tirelessly maintained by huge numbers of behind-the-scenes staff and media, who constantly engineer and promote leaked sex tapes (that everyone involved in is not only aware of, but has signed off on, and is getting paid for), as well as paparazzi stories/videos, and manufactured news/photo opportunities. gossip, and carefully constructed legal allegations.
Let's not forget that reality TV has injected a curious element into this mix- most kids sitting at home, even those without an atom of talent to call their own, fully believe not only that they have a chance at fame too, but that they are actually entitled to it.
And because they believe in this entitlement, their attitude is very much "Hurry up and die so I can have my turn."
We've never had that before.
The socio-musical balance has been upset, and the flipside to this commentary is that young people have become both perpetrators and victims of this cut throat mentality.
Kids have always been unpleasant, but now even more so. Being nice is considered a weakness, there is a constant pressure to retain SWAG, to live without thought for the future or consequences (YOLO), to "Trust no bitch", etc... This aggressive MEME culture values the individual over the collective, without the individual in question actually needing to have any sort of mental/cultural/ personal currency to back up their claim of importance.
It is entitlement as apex predator.
Of course culture can only maintain this direction and frenetic pace for so long before a new paradigm is forced to emerge, and I'm not ashamed to say I have absolutely no idea what it will be.
Technology and science/biology are tending towards collaboration as the standard model, which seems reasonable. And of course this generation will learn a lot of hard personal lessons over the next decade, and will settle as all other generations do/have, into a more societally acceptable/workable mindframe.
But we are a long way off a transhumanist H+ hive-mind/singularity. People are just too absorbed in irrelevance, and their own desire to lead that irrelevance right now. Unless there is a huge personal payoff (superhuman strength, unlimited information and blindingly fast access/processing abilities), there is no reason to give up on that dream of fame and pecuniary advantage.
The concept of an altruistic/benelovent culture swing seems more like science fiction than human/animal chimeras (which have existed in China since 2003) do right now.
That's really saying something about us.
This is knifey, from 'the internet'.
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