A period of intense cultural introspection

Things Magazine: There’s a lack of depth on the internet, a world with an atmosphere just one pixel thick that has reached out across all forms of media and turned everything into a vast, shallow pool that stretches as far as the eye can see. All visual culture is instantly at our fingertips, with the thrill of discovery superseded by a high fructose corn syrup buzz that comes from near-constant, 30fps stimulation.

What does it all mean? Maybe we’re happy with living in simulation. Those people who ‘buy the download to listen to, but … get the vinyl to own’ are clinging to the last few bits and pieces that are no longer bits and bytes. Objects are dematerialising, reduced to little square jpgs that you can shuffle through. The imitation of depth and the deluded sense of global cultural immersion is creating a modern flatland that is reducing everything down to one level.

---

2007.07.19 at 6:46 pm / culture