Source: Quillette
by Samuel Fitoussi
“The year is 1983. At 8pm sharp on 28 February, 106 million viewers tune in to watch the M*A*S*H finale. The next day, everyone from truck drivers to corporate attorneys had the same reference points. For years, M*A*S*H functioned as a national ritual, allowing families across the country to laugh at the same jokes and debate the same plot twists. Of course, it wasn’t just M*A*S*H. Everyone could assume that nearly everyone else had seen shows like Seinfeld or Dallas. … This anchored social life in common references and fostered a sense of collective identity. This logic could also be applied to cinema … music … video games … or even software … Today, that sense of shared cultural experience has eroded and been replaced by a landscape of personalised content that appeals to ever-diminishing niches.” (01/08/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/01/08/ai-and-the-end-of-common-culture-cinema-music-software/