Are Memes & Internet Culture Creating a Singularity? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios
Here on the internet, we love us some memes. But where do they come from? Yes we know, they are user generated. But to an internet layman, they seem to just appear, in HUGE quantities, ready for cultural consumption. Are they a sign of a “cultural singularity”? Memes follow rules and code, are varied, self-referential, and seem to multiply at an ever increasing rate. It may seem like science fiction, but we’re close to a world where culture automatically and magically creates infinitely more culture.Hosted by Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta)
Made by Kornhaber Brown (http://ift.tt/nSIozt)
Music Links:
Chris Mortimer: http://ift.tt/2j4mNNq
StatueOfDiveo: http://ift.tt/MLIk1e
Mister Electric Demon: http://ift.tt/1FjbchM
Wizwars : http://ift.tt/2jQCFR6
Roglock: http://ift.tt/2j4bBRa
The technological singularity is the hypothesis that technology will improve itself over and over again without human intervention. Can we compare digital culture to the technological singularity? Internet culture begins with cultural phenomena that happen in the physical world. Similarly cultural phenomena influence internet culture which promotes the development of more internet culture and this will continue to grow. These items are made by individuals, which are adopted by communities who produce more and are produced in such volume that there is no way of knowing who produced them, how they were produced and why they were produced and thereby becoming a cultural singularity. Culture produces more culture, which produces more culture and even more culture.