Comment by dTal | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dTal | Hacker News Reader

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_William_Shakespeare_sc...

I think it's fair to say TV and radio did bring "Shakespeare and the classics" to the general populace, as well as a great deal more that was previously inconceivable. "Weird reality TV" is quite a small genre compared to the set of all audiovisual media.

More broadly, you seem to be saying that TV and radio have had a net negative effect on culture - that's a pretty big claim, though there are inarguably negative effects.

I don't think life extension would be fundamentally different from any other "life-improving" technology in that regard - some would have it and some wouldn't, and it would lead to both great things and dysfunctional effects. Impossible to predict the full impact ahead of time.

I don't think "immortality" is on the cards anyway, just living longer. Note that rich people already live longer anyway.

>More broadly, you seem to be saying that TV and radio have had a net negative effect on culture

I'm saying it didn't have the intended or predicted effect.

But you're incorrect, and the word "instead" in your original post is what makes you incorrect. We did get "Shakespeare to the masses" for whatever that's worth in general. It's not like his work is some objective benchmark of qualitative excellence - people just assert it is because they learn it from adoring fans during formal education.

I missed this at the top of the Wiki article:

"The Guinness Book of Records lists 410 feature-length film and TV versions of William Shakespeare's plays as having been produced, making Shakespeare the most filmed author ever in any language."

We didn't just get it - it's the definitive thing we got!

Intended? I don't think much technology is developed with long-term social impacts in mind. We're kind of careless like that. In the tech world we're only just starting to realise the importance of this, and then only because it's recently become apparent how frighteningly easy it is to reshape society with software. Most other industries' ethics stop at "don't kill people".

Predicted? It's impossible to predict perfectly. But a great many effects were predicted in one place or another - especially the negative effects. The Machine Stops, 1984, and Brave New World all deal with the themes of technologically networked society and mass visual media.

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