
This is what it looks like when society collapses - kafkaesq
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-society-collapses-2016-8
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HillRat
Basically predicted by Tainter's _Collapse of Complex Societies_ ;
functionally, the idea is that societies evolve complex institutions to
maximize value extraction from a particular set of circumstances, but over
time they also lose the ability to adapt to rapid changes in the environment.
Complexity becomes rigidity, and when things go wrong enough the whole edifice
can't maintain itself. The idea that a slowdown caused by organizational
maladaptation is very much in line with his thesis.

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Grishnakh
Well judging by how little is going on in music and movies in the US, compared
to how it was in the 60s-80s, with only corporate-made dreck to be found now,
it looks like our society is headed for collapse too.

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cafard
Music, I can't really say, for I don't pay much attention to today's popular
music. But I can say that there were a lot of terrible movies made then, and
there are some made now that can stand up to what was made from 1960 through
1989. Everyone has had twenty-six years to forget the worst movies and music
of 1989, but the worst of 2016 is on the screen or in our ears.

~~~
Grishnakh
>Music, I can't really say, for I don't pay much attention to today's popular
music.

Well just as an example, in the 60s-70s we had stuff like Led Zeppelin, Pink
Floyd, and many other bands that are now called "classic rock" and have their
own radio stations. I don't think these were ever technically considered "pop"
(Disco was "pop" back in the 70s), they were always "rock". There is nothing
these days that has the musical impact that Led Zeppelin did.

>But I can say that there were a lot of terrible movies made then

There were a lot of terrible movies (and every other art form) in every
period. We memorialize the best, not the dreck. This has never changed, it's
human nature. I'm sure there was a bunch of second-rate and third-rate junk in
Mozart's day too, and we've forgotten it all.

>and there are some made now that can stand up to what was made from 1960
through 1989.

Like what? In the sci-fi genre, for instance, I sure haven't seen anything
that matches classics like 2001, Alien, and Aliens, and several attempts
(Prometheus, Avatar) were made by the same, now nearly elderly, directors who
made two of those! Where's young directors making great new sci-fi films?
There aren't any. Instead, we just have not-so-serious comic-book movies. We
haven't had any classic horror movies like The Shining or The Thing (1982).

I'm sorry, but this isn't just older generations sneering at the younger
generations; things have really changed, and it coincides with the rise of the
internet, and some significant changes in society.

Look at movies: movie ticket prices have gotten insane in recent years, and it
just isn't that fun an experience now with stupid parents bringing their too-
young kids to movies they have no business watching (because the parents are
helicopter parents and/or are too cheap to hire a babysitter for their movie
night) and the kids end up pitching a screaming fit and annoying everyone, or
rude people texting during the movie or talking on their phones, etc. With
modern big-screen TVs costing so little, and the availability of DVDs, Blu-
Rays, and on-demand internet viewing, it's easier to just stay at home and
watch movies there in the comfort of your own home, where you can eat and
drink whatever you want without paying extortionate prices and where you can
pause to go to the bathroom and rewind if you didn't understand someone.

With music, it seems that musical tastes have splintered so much now, combined
with record labels not bothering to seek out quality acts to promote, so now
we just have a bunch of decades-old bands running around touring their asses
off to take advantage of the new wave of nostalgia for classic rock but
nothing new coming out that really gains much of a following.

