Late 90s, I stumbled on an interview with a band. What caught my attention was a paragraph how popularity almost destroyed them. The band was one of the first hardcore punk performers on the scene. They were rebelling against what they perceived as commercial brand crap (No Logo is great read on the topic). Their audience was made of the same “misfits” they were. People that have created their own sub-culture and mini communities, to fight and protect from the fakery, lack of authenticity, the commercialization of “cool”. As it happens that was too bad. Not being cool became cool. With that the audience changed and turned into the exact opposite the band sought. The shock along with personal issues caused the band to dissolve for the next few years. When they got together again – things have changed.[jump]
A great article about the history of IRC by Daniel Stenberg. IRC used to be an awesome place where one can meet new people. Not just any but of the same “blood type”. The communities that grew out of IRC had the tendency to be self-moderated. Kind of similar to Usenet. Sure, there were assholes but they were few and rarely tolerated. The fun @ Usenet ended with the Eternal September. IRC experienced a similar event. The end result? The communities fall apart. Some moved to forums, others to blogs, but the spirit of the tight-knit comm. died irreversibly.[jump]
In 28 years the Internet users grew from ~25 million to ~5.6 billion, the number of websites from ~23 thousand to ~1.7 billion. People are more connected than ever, have more access to more information, yet the rift between people grows bigger every day. The big, fat, vast data is so polluted, so noisy it has converted into marsh of crap with occasional beacons of light. Sure, all that is great for the economy, but at what cost? There used to be faith that the more access to free information, the more functionality literate people would become. Instead something else happened. A reversed trend.[jump]
The Industrial Revolution made people flock from the villages and towns into the cities. Advanced technology and lead to the Green Revolution which further catalyzed the migration and growth. It also lead to two world wars. Kind of hard to commit mass genocide using cold steel alone. What the Green Revolution did not accomplish was accomplished by the poorly understood Globalization. Blind faith into badly understood concepts can do “miracles”. It’s better to have a 12 year old working 14 a day @ Nike factory rather than selling her/his body at the corner, right? Migration. Migration made the cities unsustainable, broke the communities, destroyed the families and alienated people even more. Ever wondered why Friends was such success? Wonder again. People still manage to have friends but strangely they are treated as a TV. Push button – friends on, push button, friends off. But hey, the economic boom in the last century is without precedent in the human history.[jump]
MySpace and Facebook upgraded the “social media” concept. They used to be okay until the number of users grew exponentially. Then they became toxic (as expected). Why? Because the brain cares only for one thing – action. It does not care weather it is empathy or hatred. Strangely the latter comes easier than the first. Kind of resonates with the black and white patterns we’ve been thought to think in. Combine this with the prevailing sense of disillusion and the meaningless of modern life (sans getting more stuff and being young forever) and there you have it – hate overgrown, stock prices inflated.[jump]
Feminism died the moment it became popular and successful. It morphed from women righteously fighting for their rights to the sum-up of the entitled Karen character. Fuck you Karen. The “counter” action was provided by the dumb-ass incels. Go fuck yourselves too. Same happened with the “green” movement. Greenpeace is now a brand. LGBT/LGBTIQA+ will soon become one. The “diversity” myth along with the woke weirdness – they are dead too. Yet another example how something meaningful, with purpose, can end up… as what? Commercialized news of yesterday.[jump]
Science used to be a beacon in the night. A calling light for a brighter, better feature. All that was true until science, just as academia, turned into business. Follow the leaders, follow the rules, play ball or get your own financing. That’s one of the many reasons why there’s utter stagnation in science. Things grow more complex but that’s just a petty excuse for typical conformity required by the status quo. Basic research has not moved much from it was half a century ago. Probably because there are more lucrative and successful fields of research…[jump]
IT used to be a domain that attracted people who wanted to do great things. Nerds and geeks of the awesome, creative and inventive type. Now it is place for yaml “programmers” and “managers” who can’t let go of the factory floor mentality. But all is good – industry is booming, being a manager is prestigious and sign of success.[jump]
Porn used to have great, awesome, funk music. Some of the best funk came out of porn movies. Now? Now it is “Let’s see how much we can stuff there”. Well – it’s only that much. But that’s okay, cost-savings. Who needs OST for porn? It’s not a billion ~$100 billion industry. Oh, wait. [jump]
Being polite and considerate, striving to develop sincere empathy was a great thing. Until political correctness hijacked it. Now everyone can be a politically correct asshole or even better – be member of the new yes-man breed. Surrounding yourself with employed cheerleaders means success, right?[jump]
People used to wish to be challenged and bothered. Really, truly bothered. They believed that working “hard” is the means to success. Now they wish to be left alone so they can focus on being successful. Who can blame them? Overtime is a bitch and one can take only so much before turning into one. But hey – productivity and inflation are booming, unlike the wages.[jump]
Seems that whenever something becomes successful and popular, this immediately sets it for a downfall. Twists it and turns it into something awful. Why? Unaccounted variables? Second and third level, unforeseen, interactions? Or is this part of our “nature”?