1Ryan Waggoner

This is an interesting observation, but I think that while the Internet and social media and all of the other trends driving this change will bring niche "things" to more people, I don't think they'll make niche things less niche. That sounds like a contradiction, but I guess I mean that relative to the left side of the long tail graph, the right side stuff will still be niche, even if the height of the chart overall increases. In fact, I sometimes wonder if the Internet in particular ends up driving consolidation more than we thought it would. I feel like the top movies and music today get way more attention than they would have 20 years ago, rather than the Internet having a democratization effect in terms of flattening out the long tail. And I think the reason is just human nature; we're inclined to gravitate towards the things our friends like. This phenomenon is especially acute for teenagers and young adults, and since this group is both technologically inclined and such a powerful driving force in popular media, perhaps that explains why things consolidate more.

I hope that made at least a tiny bit of sense :)

November 27, 2009

2Ted Rheingold

This has been a looooong time coming. I've been suspecting that historically 'coolness' will be viewed as one very long arc that pervaded culture until it peters out. I don't think - by it's nature - it can be permanent. I suspect it'll be charted as starting in NY cold-water walk-ups in the 20s and 30s, taken root by beats (etc) in the 50s, blooms in the 60s, massive seed dispersal in the 70s, overgrowth by the 90/00s and long slow decay after that.

We're on the other side of peak coolness, so to speak.

Coolness as a value won't be valuable because as Brian Eno and you point out nothing is exclusive and thus it's very hard to feel cool about something.

People of the past 80 years that valued coolness will fight this as coolness is what helps them feel special and meaningful, but I suspect it will be harder and harder to feel cool since it's so hard to find something that isn't known by too many. Goatees, hip tattoos, fixies are all part of rural America. Happening bands are on TV commercials before you hear of them. Sponge Bob parodies movies you haven't seen yet. Where are you going to go to find a t-shirt or sneakers or concert ticket stub you can store in your closet for 20 years that would make anyone that saw it say 'you're so cool!'

My suspicion is that just as coolness didn't exist 100 years ago (excluding the life f royals I suppose) I suspect a new societal phenomena will embrace parts of humanity. Perhaps it's being tidy, or efficient, or healthy or genius or lazy ... something that will make people feel special. But I doubt it will be cool, which perhaps will be yet another casualty of the end of the Industrial era and the start of the Digital.

November 28, 2009

3harris

Coolness always has been and always will be with humans.

Cool is based on what is local.

Cool hasn't changed, local has changed.

Cool is just a way of saying "fits in" or "one of us". Things we have in common.

I'm catching up on my Noah reading, so I can comment anachronistically from a later post. #thingsdarkiessay, that ain't cool. It isn't local enough, and I doubt it ever will be.

Tattoos were edgy, then cool, now passe.
Next will be implants. Cosmetic and/or technological. A fringe group currently gets horns or ridges implanted; someone had an RFID chip implanted. Eventually, this will move from edgy fringe to cool mainstream and then out to passe.

As for now, anyone got an iPhone?
Well, aren't you cool?

November 30, 2009