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ONE of the clearest and most powerful descriptions I’ve seen about the place where technology, culture and economic forces meet is in a lecture USC’s Jonathan Taplin gave not long ago. He’s transposed the speech into a piece for Medium called “Sleeping Through a Revolution.”
Taplin is especially good on the big picture, and on the way Silicon Valley — built largely through public funding — would eventually be taken over by safety-net-shredding libertarians of the PayPal mafia.
This is from the opening:
Because I spent the first 30 years of my life producing music, movies and TV, this question matters to me and I think it should matter to you. So I want to explore the idea that the last twenty years of technological progress — the digital revolution — have somehow devalued the role of the creative artist in our society. I undertake this question with both optimism and humility. Optimism because I believe in the power of rock and roll or movies to change lives.
Taplin is an interesting guy who produced Scorsese’s Mean Streets and worked with Dylan and The Band in another life.
I’ve got an overdue review to write today so will have to leave it here for now. 