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Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Overtime we’ve begun to treat this nuance and ambiguity as friction and something to program out. Computers don’t like it. Algorithms can’t categorize it. So we remove it.
Yet we so desperately need this “in between” and neither “yes” nor “no” thinking.
Yet we so desperately need this “in between” and neither “yes” nor “no” thinking.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Do the dichotomies of reason vs. feeling, objectivity vs. subjectivity, man vs. machine, and physics vs. metaphysics still make sense?
MK: This is the computer-thinking speaking. These are binaries . 0’s and 1’s are for computers, and arguably should only be for computers.
I thoroughly believe, alongside thinkers like Douglas Rushkoff, that we must ... See more
MK: This is the computer-thinking speaking. These are binaries . 0’s and 1’s are for computers, and arguably should only be for computers.
I thoroughly believe, alongside thinkers like Douglas Rushkoff, that we must ... See more
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Our moment is a war of competing myths.
The future belongs to those who write it — as always — for better or worse.
The future belongs to those who write it — as always — for better or worse.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Culture, particularly our media, has become so participatory, that everyone is self-nominating and submitting their own myths into the zeitgeist. And as a result, individuals play an increasingly powerful role in shaping narratives.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Brian Lange puts it brilliantly: “Transaction is identity exchange.”
Consumers exchange capital for identity, and makers exchange their time, labor and expression for the goods or services they sell. Commerce is a continuous exchange of identities.
Consumers exchange capital for identity, and makers exchange their time, labor and expression for the goods or services they sell. Commerce is a continuous exchange of identities.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
Acknowledging this bias or incompleteness is perhaps the most important part of the work.
Answers are mere theory.
Answers are mere theory.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
There is no one “singular culture.” Personal perception is the other key variable here.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
dimensionalise, always
Attempting to define, quantify and strategize around the zeitgeist is a game of tag. That’s what we’re after. That’s the Sisyphean task. It’s utterly daunting and exhausting, but that challenge is also where the opportunity (and fun) lies.
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
so what do we do then if we can’t ever catch culture?
Culture is an ecosystem.
Each component from climate, biology, and institutions, to technology, policy and leisure, are all reacting to and informing the next.
For every push, there’s a pull, and for every action, a reaction. And more often than not, contradictions or polar opposites in culture are related to one another.
That we’re currently experie... See more
Each component from climate, biology, and institutions, to technology, policy and leisure, are all reacting to and informing the next.
For every push, there’s a pull, and for every action, a reaction. And more often than not, contradictions or polar opposites in culture are related to one another.
That we’re currently experie... See more
Matt Klein • Making Sense of Culture Amidst Contradiction
both are true