Why are we seeing a global homogenizing of culture across every dimension that counts? Why has Hollywood become so creatively bankrupt that nobody bothers watching that oh-so-predictable-52nd sequel to a superhero movie? Why have pop songs become so objectively similar? Why is everyone following the same formula for their posts on Instagram and humble-brag stories 🤮 on LinkedIn? Why are the outrage merchants masquerading as news organizations so predictably apocalyptic? Why have ads become so non-memorable? And why is the aperture for creativity in design at its narrowest in a century, as branding continues to plumb the depths of monotony and digital design calcifies around what Dieter Rams was doing in 1962 because Jonny Ive thought it was cool in 1998?

The answer is simple. We’re not designing for culture at all; we’re not even designing for people. We’re designing for the machines that act as our contemporary cultural gatekeepers. We’re designing for black-box algorithms built by massive, monopolistic tech firms whose sole goal is to keep us on their platforms for as long as possible, repeatedly doom-scrolling twenty-second dopamine hits while watching the ads they monetize go round and round.