Comments on: modern http://imprompt.us/2006/modern/ Computer Science and Teaching and Other Ancillary Things Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:52:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Daniel Stutzbach http://imprompt.us/2006/modern/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Daniel Stutzbach Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2006/modern/#comment-101 <p>I think part of the problem is that the human notion of "popular" does not scale the same way that skill levels scale. Popular tends to follow a Zipf-like distribution, so you have approximately the same number of really popular artists regardless of the total population size. This was compounded by the rise of mass-distribution media like newspapers, radio, and television which unified cultures across much larger populations than any previous time in human history.</p><p>The Internet may change that, but it's too early to tell. Maybe it will lead to a balkanization of cultures, where mainstream culture is harder to define. Or Not.</p><p>That's my $0.02 anyway.</p> I think part of the problem is that the human notion of “popular” does not scale the same way that skill levels scale. Popular tends to follow a Zipf-like distribution, so you have approximately the same number of really popular artists regardless of the total population size. This was compounded by the rise of mass-distribution media like newspapers, radio, and television which unified cultures across much larger populations than any previous time in human history.

The Internet may change that, but it’s too early to tell. Maybe it will lead to a balkanization of cultures, where mainstream culture is harder to define. Or Not.

That’s my $0.02 anyway.

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