Comments closedThe cost of bullshit has dropped exponentially. The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) – marketed as “artificial intelligence” – has created a sort of bullshit singularity: infinite bullshit at zero-cost.
Tag: culture
Jay Springett, who brings a term that feels today like it has serious value:
We must cultivate context literacy and we must maintain a distinction between the infrastructure and the experience, between machine and meaning.
We are living through a moment that future historians may describe as a cultural rupture. A context war. How this plays out will shape new definitions of truth, authorship, creativity, and trust, perhaps for centuries to come.
Context Literacy feels like a big thing.
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The report opens with a stark observation: we’re living in the “Age of Big Content”—a time of infinite scrolls, algorithmic recommendations, and what Stocksy calls “vibe-less mood boards”. The result is a creative landscape experiencing both “Peak Complexity” and the “Meh-ocene,” where global aesthetics are collapsing into sameness.
As the report notes, “Cafes look the same in Tokyo and Mexico City,” while creative industries struggle with originality—evidenced by the fact that not a single original film (as opposed to a sequel, reboot or remake) cracked 2024’s top 15 highest-grossing movies.
The Curation Paradox at Creative Boom. I’m amused by the Meh-ocene, the natural stagnation of atemporality, which was on our minds fifteen years ago.
Photo by Marc Weidenbaum I had to save.
morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.
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One CommentA massive bacchanalian frieze spanning three walls has been discovered in a banquet hall in the ancient Roman city Pompeii, the archaeological park announced in a press release.
And:
The frieze is located within the Casa del Tiaso or House of Thiasus in Regio IX in Pompeii. Thiasus is associated with the presence of Dionysus and followers. To become part of the ancient cult of Dionysus, initiates were required to participate in secret rituals.
The thing about these cults, like the Eleusinian Mysteries, is that much of their material is lost.
Archaeologists reveal the enigmatic burial practices of the Southern Jê people of Brazil. There was a time when they buried their dead in caves, before moving on to mounds.
The researchers noticed a potential pattern: most (88%) of the analyzed caves were located near water features such as waterfalls, rivers, and streams. According to Southern Jê mythology, water is the only element that connects all three levels of the universe: the underground realm of the dead, the earth-level realm of humans, animals, and untouched forests, and the celestial world of the stars, sun, moon, and gods. This connection to water may have thus helped the deceased souls transition from the earth level into the underground realm. While still preliminary, future geostatistical studies may help determine if this is a mere coincidence of geography or a deliberate act. Interestingly, the researchers also determined that burial caves were usually hidden in hard-to-reach areas and not visible to surrounding villages.
It’s tempting to associate this with the River Styx, and some kind of ur-myth around water and the dead.
A timber circle has been found in the Vesthimmerland region in Denmark, marking a significant discovery of a Neolithic cultural site much like the famed Stonehenge in England.
Timber circles are a circular arrangement of wooden posts or tree trunks set in pits and postholes that were likely used for rituals, ceremonies, astronomical observations, and social gatherings. This particular timber circle dates to 2600–1600 B.C.E. with a diameter just shy of 100 feet and consisting of at least 45 wooden posts spaced over six feet apart.
We have a “Woodhenge” in Britain. There seems to be a link between Woodhenge and this place, The Bell Beaker Phenomenon:
The Bell Beaker phenomenon was a widespread cultural movement from around 2800–1800 B.C.E. that spread across Europe, marked by distinctive bell-shaped pottery, advanced metalworking, and changes in burial customs. Archaeological evidence suggests it played a key role in the transition to the Bronze Age, influencing trade and social structures.
Everything is connected.
CONNECTED:
Comments closedThe other night, my partner was telling me that a bunch of her friends were talking about the tv show BABY REINDEER, and I commented that nobody will even remember it in a month – the half-life of hit streaming shows is like ten days now.
This afternoon, I opened this post from Jay Springett:
The idea that a new work must come out, be consumed, burn bright before we all collectively move on to the next thing is a crazy one. It’s rotting peoples brains, its rotting culture.
The other week a friend was bemoaning in the group chat telling us about the following interaction Her newest book came out in February, and she was being interviewed on a podcast. During the conversation the host apparently straight up ask the following (I’m paraphrasing): “Why are you still talking about your book? what about AI? what about xyz? whats next for you?”. Translated: Why are you still, 4 months on, talking about the book that took you 3 years to write?
The whole thing feels very sharp and true to me.
Had the show dropped weekly as ‘appointment viewing’ we’d all still be discussing it. And thats just better for culture. Fallout would have stayed at the edge of the cultural zeitgeist for 8 weeks, not 10 days. Its release would have had a bigger, deeper cultural impact. It would have had a chance to begin the process of ‘settling in’.Comments closed