Next week I'm talking to philosopher Nathan Howard about the value of philosophy, the art of paper-writing, and reasons, among many other topics. You had some reasons to get up this morning. What were they? What kinds of things are they? In what sense do you possess them?

But first, a confession:

I hate that almost every facet of life and culture has become politicized. It's making us stupid, unhappy, and more divided.

But I’m more interested in why we find ourselves submerged in this permeating, hot political stew.

It just occurred to me that one of the main reasons life has become so politicized must have something to do with the almost total loss of collective, cultural moments, as culture itself skews more digital than physical, individualized over social, in a sea of practically unlimited options.

Aside from live sports, there are no more movies, TV shows, or music that the general public experiences together simultaneously in a uniting, collective moment.

Some music, for example, used to premiere first on radio stations. Thousands or even millions of people would hear a brand new song at the same time for the first time, experiencing it together.

I can remember staring at my bedroom radio, about to hear my favorite band premiere a song from their upcoming album.

The radio DJ’s had pumped everyone up in anticipation of this brand new song no one had heard yet. I knew at that moment my friends were buzzing with just as much anticipation over at their house, and I knew we would talk about it and evaluate it all the next day.

Large scale, collective music experiences are gone, replaced by music streaming services that present instant, bottomless access across every conceivable genre and sub-genre.

We swapped our collective music experiences for individualized, instant, infinite choices.

And digital tech forced us to make the same trade with TV and movies.

We don’t “tune in” simultaneously to watch season premieres or finales, let alone regular episodes of shows.

DVR, while convenient, turns every bit of TV into a Netflix-style buffet.

We swapped our collective TV experiences for individualized, instant, infinite choices.

Movies were always less simultaneous than music or TV, but there were exponentially fewer available at any given time.

You had a good chance of getting a positive response when you asked a friend after opening weekend, “Did you see Gladiator?”

I couldn’t tell you what’s currently playing in theaters, and I used to be obsessed with which movies were out and coming soon.

The lockdowns in 2020 finally killed what was left of our collective moments, moving most of life from the real world to the virtual world at a world-changing pace.

But we are social, communal creatures who seek shared experiences.

When the extended lockdowns morally stigmatized just about any form of social togetherness, the political powder keg exploded.

The vacuum that was created, when shared experiences started to disappear, now needed to be filled somehow.

Cultural artifacts like music, TV, and movies now lie static, waiting to be accessed on demand. But in their place what kinds of things are always happening live?

Political events.

Ongoing, uninterrupted political news became the default collective experience in the absence of collective media experiences.

Political events replaced “water cooler episodes”.

And now we find ourselves in a culture where the political drama, broadcasting non-stop by the delivery system of personalized pocket screens, has replaced TV drama.

To be clear: so many factors are at play here in explaining the current hyper-politicization. I don’t present this as a monocausal explanation.

But I do think the almost total loss of shared, cultural experiences contributed in some way to the pervasive, stubborn hold that (reluctantly) shared political discourse has taken in almost every corner of life.

It seems like an underestimated problem. And I can’t imagine what a solution would even look like.

Whatever the replacement for it might be, it would need to involve simultaneous experiences shared on a mass scale.

And I’m afraid that will involve AI and virtual reality, further replacing our real lives with digital counterfeits.

But hey, I could be wrong about all of this, and maybe we’ll all wake up to a mass surge of interest in vinyl, live shows, and theater experiences.

Until next time.

Jared

​

​

$5.00 Selling Plato's Tip Jar Selling Plato's Academy courses, Selling Plato's Dialogues, and the podcast would not be possible without your ongoing... Read more Send a tip

​

If you like listening to just audio in the car, on a run, or while you're supposed to be working, subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode:

If you like watching the conversation, subscribe, and the latest episode will show up in your feed. (Extra credit: like whatever videos you watch if you genuinely like what you're hearing.)

Take a sec to follow us on

X: https://x.com/sellingplato​

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@selling.plato​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sellingplato/​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sellingplato​

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellingplato​

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@sellingplato​
​

🏛️ If you're ready to get started learning logic, I offer a low-cost, subscription-based course. You can try it free for a week and see what you think:

Selling Plato's Dialogues

If you think someone else will like this Dialogues newsletter, please forward it along to your friends and family!

If you received this email as a forward, click to subscribe!

​​​​​​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​