The Age of the Surefire Mediocre

because we just keep getting a dreary cultural convergence toward the unremarkable and the passable, churned out by those who already have deep pockets and big platforms.

We live in an era of predictive analytics, in which creative decisions are increasingly driven by computer models that aim to try to predict what will—and will not—be a hit.

We live in an era of predictive analytics, in which creative decisions are increasingly driven by computer models that aim to try to predict what will—and will not—be a hit. Now, pause and think about how that works for a second, and you’ll see that it will inevitably lead to convergence toward, you guessed it: the Surefire Mediocre.

“Our culture's primary M.O. now consists of promiscuously and sometimes compulsively reviving and rejiggering old forms.”