internet
Two things are true. First, the Internet has led to decentralization like never before. People like myself can spin up a website and a newsletter, and bypass the approval of gatekeepers. But at the same time, pop culture is more centralized than ever. From movies to music, books to video games, the most popular content garners more attention than ever. Take movies. Before the year 2000, only 25% of top-grossing movies were prequels, sequels, spinoffs, remakes, reboots, or cinematic universe expansions. By 2010, that number had climbed to 50%. Now, it’s close to 100%. The gravity of the Internet leads to centralization, but savvy media consumers can learn from a wider variety of voices than at any other point in human history
While we conventionally think of ourselves as “using the internet,” we are simultaneously and undeniably a part of it . We are both creators and the created. We are man and machine, becoming a new kind of man-machine being, beyond any one person’s conceptualization.
Dan Hunt • Internet as Practice
My current-day interaction with the internet seems to contain ever fewer of these portholes and chance encounters. If the internet is a superhighway, it feels like there are fewer exits, and you’re expected to keep traveling to the same places over and over again, based on your past behavior (and purchasing history). In fact, the highway always
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