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> may be heading to a consumption society. Producing is orders of magnitude more mentally challenging than consuming What is even more alarming is the quality

by dxbydt 14y ago

> may be heading to a consumption society. Producing is orders of magnitude more mentally challenging than consuming What is even more alarming is the quality of consumption has rapidly degraded. Lawrence of Arabia was photographed & designed to be watched in a pitch dark packed theatre with zero disturbance on a huge 72 feet by 52 feet imax screen. There is a whole generation that is consuming that same Lawrence of Arabia as a tiny youtube video on a tiny 9 inch by 8inch ipad, while simultaneously checking their twitter feed & sexting whilst sitting by themselves on a couch in a bright room. This to me is just SAD. Forget production, even the quality of consumption has been so grossly cheapened. These kids will NEVER know the grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia. It just makes you ask - what is the fucking price of progress ?

eru 14y ago
On the other hand, video games have much better graphics and sound nowadays. And to go back to Lawrence of Arabia times: Even earlier people staged their own plays at home. And when they wanted to listen to music, they played it from sheets. Instead of just tuning into the radio. That's quality of consumption for you. I.e. people will always complain about earlier times being better, even and especially so in those earlier times themselves.
- coldtea 14y ago
  >Even earlier people staged their own plays at home. No, they didn't. Theater plays were staged publicly until at least 5th century B.C. >And when they wanted to listen to music, they played it from sheets. Instead of just tuning into the radio. That's quality of consumption for you. Indeed it is. Was this meant ironically? >I.e. people will always complain about earlier times being better, even and especially so in those earlier times themselves. And people might always have had a point. Depending on what they were complaining about. That we have used to be living in a time when this doesn't exist anymore, doesn't mean that their initial complain was bogus. Matter of fact, it takes a lot of search for find people complaining about "earlier times being better" in earlier times. There are quotes complaining of decline, from Hesiodus to Plato to latin writers etc, but fewer and far between. And there was times like the enlightenment era or the modernist period where optimism and looking into the future was the prevalent emotion. Nowadays, every 12 year old on YouTube laments that he wasn't born 30-40 years ago.
  - eru 14y ago
    > No, they didn't. Theater plays were staged publicly until at least 5th century B.C. Yes. There were public stagings, no arguing about that. And private performances at home were popular in e.g. the 19th century as a family entertainment. Optimism is the prevalent emotion, now. Just do not restrict yourself to judging by youtube comments. Go to any emerging country (where the majority of earth's population live nowadays). I would guess that non-optimism about the future was the prevalent emotion for most of history. But I would have to dig up some sources for that.

by dxbydt 14y ago

eru 14y ago

On the other hand, video games have much better graphics and sound nowadays. And to go back to Lawrence of Arabia times: Even earlier people staged their own plays at home. And when they wanted to listen to music, they played it from sheets. Instead of just tuning into the radio. That's quality of consumption for you. I.e. people will always complain about earlier times being better, even and especially so in those earlier times themselves.

coldtea 14y ago
>Even earlier people staged their own plays at home. No, they didn't. Theater plays were staged publicly until at least 5th century B.C. >And when they wanted to listen to music, they played it from sheets. Instead of just tuning into the radio. That's quality of consumption for you. Indeed it is. Was this meant ironically? >I.e. people will always complain about earlier times being better, even and especially so in those earlier times themselves. And people might always have had a point. Depending on what they were complaining about. That we have used to be living in a time when this doesn't exist anymore, doesn't mean that their initial complain was bogus. Matter of fact, it takes a lot of search for find people complaining about "earlier times being better" in earlier times. There are quotes complaining of decline, from Hesiodus to Plato to latin writers etc, but fewer and far between. And there was times like the enlightenment era or the modernist period where optimism and looking into the future was the prevalent emotion. Nowadays, every 12 year old on YouTube laments that he wasn't born 30-40 years ago.
- eru 14y ago
  > No, they didn't. Theater plays were staged publicly until at least 5th century B.C. Yes. There were public stagings, no arguing about that. And private performances at home were popular in e.g. the 19th century as a family entertainment. Optimism is the prevalent emotion, now. Just do not restrict yourself to judging by youtube comments. Go to any emerging country (where the majority of earth's population live nowadays). I would guess that non-optimism about the future was the prevalent emotion for most of history. But I would have to dig up some sources for that.