Severin Matusek

Joshua Citarella argues that Gen Z and Millennials used irony as a defense mechanism against late capitalism’s perceived betrayals, from a soaring cost of living to the increasingly precarious nature of labor. “Irony as culture became: ‘The band I like will sell out, so I’ll buy-in early.’ Irony as politics became: ‘Movements get corrupted, so I’ll... See more

We're all participants in a cognitive economy that trades in attention, belief, and behavior. Shape the feed, shape the future. What happens when everything becomes an attention-speculation machine?

In other words, instruments can surprise you with what they offer, but they are not automatic. In the end, they require a touch. You use a tool, but you play an instrument.

I asked Deresiewicz if he felt anything had changed in the 13 years since he wrote the piece. Back then, he says, “I was still in that mindset of ‘selling out is evil.’” When he began research on his next book, however, “I realized that was kind of an outdated, privileged, and intensely unrealistic attitude,” he says. “Now, you don’t have a choice,... See more

“I work with celebrity mostly, and at times what’s happening is that the Max kind of people are more expensive than the celebrity because they’re moving units in a different way,” says creative consultant Chrissie Miller, a client and friend. “They just have an audience that is ready to buy.”

This is not a rewriting of history as much as a DDoS-ing of it—flooding the zone with so much synthetic crap that engaging with reality and humanity becomes just one of many content experiences to choose from.