The article completely failed on the "why". It focused almost entirely on the "what". So why? First, the post-WWII era was a tremendously successful one. The w

The article completely failed on the "why". It focused almost entirely on the "what". So why? First, the post-WWII era was a tremendously successful one. The world was forward-looking and optimistic. Then, our pop culture was looking to a peaceful, hi-tech future in space. What are we looking at in pop culture today? Zombie apocalypse. It was also the last strongly defined aesthetic. After its rococo climax in late 1960s psychedelia, art lost direction. The gloom and negativity of the 1970s didn't find much shape in any art form but cinema, and ultimately the Sex Pistols came along in 1977, pronounced modernism dead, and kicked its corpse. After punk, the world of high art aesthetics turned to postmodernism, reassembling bits and bobs of history and multiculturalism into a shape that reflected the past, not the future. Then the Internet came along, and design focus shifted to the web. Out in the physical world, postmodernism degenerated into mere hipsterdom. I'm kind of hoping that hipsters are to postmodernism what psychedelia was to modernism, and a new, popular aesthetic can rise - something that recognizes the constraints and strengths of the 21st century. A lot of new art styles come from new technologies, so maybe 3D printing will lead us somewhere magical. One can only hope.