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"One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection."
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Bohemias | ||
| A place where the ordinary rules of society don't apply; the "next big thing" often comes from these places. |
I've been wondering what happens when every culture and subculture on Earth has been mined for icons and archetypes (for use in cartoons and movies), foods and flavors (for use in recipe books and theme restaurants) and music. It took some of these cultures thousands of years to develop into something interesting.
| They were a crucial aspect of industrial civilization in the previous two centuries. They were where industrial civilization went to dream. A sort of unconscious R&D., exploring alternate societal strategies. Each one would have a dress code, characteristic forms of artistic expression… And they did, frequently, have locales with which they became associated. But they became extinct. |
| From All Tomorrow's Parties,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1999 Additional resources -
|
Why? Because we started picking them before they could ripen. Authentic subcultures required backwaters, and time , and there are no more backwaters in our completely and instantly connected world.
What can we do to encourage the undisturbed growth of culture? Maybe John Brunner had the right idea with paid avoidance zones in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
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'It was about five feet long, a silver flexiprene-covered body like a fat snake...'
'The tape-recorded synthetic voice spoke with its usual dispassionate calm'
'The pokkecon rang again. *The coffee’s for him?* Tsuyoshi said.'
The Jetsons imagined so much future.
'Rod placed the brain inside the panel... the horse raised its head, wiggled its ears, blinked twice, gave a tentative whinny.'
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
