How Creative Stagnation Due to Algorithms Can Eventually Lead to a Profound Cultural Change

Kirby Ferguson of the series Everything Is a Remix, explained via an opinion piece for The New York Times how social media algorithms strive for sameness and hegemony while creating echo chambers that suppress individual creativity.

Everything is thirst traps, and smash the likes, and hit “Subscribe”, and thumbnails that all look the same, and clickbaity texts that all reads the same. It feels like there’s been a dimming of our imagination and even of possibility. Are we somehow becoming less creative?

Ferguson argues, however, if one looks beyond what is being showcased, there is a wealth of creativity. But it has to be searched out, far beyond algorithms.

So think of the tip of the iceberg as pop culture. It’s the mainstream. This is where sameness rules. But beneath the tip of the iceberg, the creativity is there, and there’s a lot of it. Whatever the topic is, a small universe of content awaits you on the technology that drives culture, the internet.

He also posits that if creativity is dead, it’s only for a little while. Creative stagnation, historically, has always led to profound cultural change.

The Renaissance in Northern Europe came after war, the Black Death, and religious turmoil. The Harlem Renaissance of the ‘20s and ‘30s sprang out of segregation and poverty. The counterculture movement of the ‘60s erupted after the conformity and repression of the ‘50s. My guess — when human creativity seems defeated, it’s actually gathering strength and waiting for its moment to erupt.