Algorithmically driven world views
Earlier today, I watched about 30 distinct dance performances. That is just about a record, or it has to be close to a personal best for watching consecutive dance numbers. It was one of those days where I took out the earbuds and just tried to watch the performance and appreciate the music that was selected. About 2 hours later, the whole thing had come to an end, and now I’m watching Captain America: Brave New World (2025) on Disney+ and hoping that my subscription lasts until the end of the movie. It’s supposed to expire at some point today. Exactly the time it is going to expire is unknown, but I feel like it is something I’m going to learn about at some point during the movie.
During dinner, I actually witnessed somebody wearing one of those Quicksilver skateboard shirts, which made me think of the 1990s and when people used to skateboard at the mall. It has probably been 20 years since the last time I ran into somebody wearing one of those Quicksilver shirts. Sure, I’m still listening to the same music, but now on the Lithium XM Channel 34, which features 90s alternative & grunge rock. It really does feature the soundtrack that came into being when those t-shirts were newly introduced to general fashion. That was like a long time ago. Technically, it was the last millennium.
I spent some time today thinking about how culture is shared with the latest generation. A lot of kids are learning about society and experiencing culture while glued to a device screen. I’m not sure what the long-term consequences will be of a whole generation being pre-loaded with collaboration house or solo streaming culture vibes and interests. A lot of that being about gaining the most attention and sustaining it within an algorithm-driven world. That probably really is the new world order, but not the one promised when grunge music was coming into being. It is a difficult type of world view that evolves from shared experiences that are all defined as viral by the algorithm. It’s a fleeting shared perspective.