The Great Diminishment

Which is to say: the Internet and increasing access to entertainment means we hit the “too much stuff” problem by another name. And that name? The mid. The average. The uninteresting. The fine. That’s why “end of animated movie music” and “chicken alfredo boomerang music” and “retail store radio music” and “Reels music” have become shorthands for v... See more

the internet’s sprawling databases, real-time social-media networks, and globe-spanning e-commerce platforms have made almost everything immediately searchable, knowable, or purchasable—curbing the social value of sharing new things. Cultural arbitrage now happens so frequently and rapidly as to be nearly undetectable, usually with no extraordinary... See more