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I've begun to hate the term "democratizing." In fact, I now tend to see it as a strong shibboleth from people who don't actually value the thing being "democra
by DanHulton 1y ago
I've begun to hate the term "democratizing."
In fact, I now tend to see it as a strong shibboleth from people who don't actually value the thing being "democratized" - computing, art, music, and who think in terms of "barrier to entry" instead of terms of understanding and appreciating.
In the end, this bizarre drive just ends up cheapening our enjoyment and interactions. We get shallow music, soulless art, and miserable computer programs, because there's no active intelligence involved in their creation that truly understands what's being created.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y agoFunny you say this. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. It really does seem like “democratization” is recuperative shorthand for “commodification”.
- nsonha 1y agowe don't get "shallow music, soulless art, and miserable computer programs" by making those things accessible or "democratizing". We get those because some capitalists decided to invest in some low quality stuff and hype them up, and prey on younger generations and "educate" them to have certain taste, turning everything into a race to the bottom
- rcxdude 1y agoAccessibility tends to mean you get more stuff, and that the average quality goes down. But it does tend to also increase the amount of high-quality stuff, stuff tailored to your specific tastes, interesting and out-there stuff, if you can sort through it all. You can see this in indie video games and music already.