Member-only story
American culture — which refers to anywhere in the world that receives American media — will be remembered in the distant future, if there is a future, as an incredible, primitive comedy. We will be seen as superstitious, strange, indulgent, vain, irrational, self-defeating, irresponsible. Our stewardship over the human spirit and the native earth will be understood as dangerous and malign. Our buildings will not last, our supposedly deep, profound books and art will be indistinguishable from advertising — which will be the salient feature of our culture, when historicized. It is possible — perhaps inevitable — that some Event will destroy all digital records, which, in terms of the material they’re made out of, are incredibly fragile, far less sturdy than paper, wood, or stone.
