Do you think Las Vegas has changed trajectory over the last decade or so to align with the rise of the Zynternet, or do you think Vegas has continued down its same old path, and it's just the rest of the world throwing up their hands and saying "sure yeah ok why not"?
I guess I'm asking what the underlying cause of the rise of the Zynternet is/was? Has it always been with us, and is just now becoming more socially acceptable (though I'm not sure why?), or is it a reactionary thing in response to the 2010s (or whatever)?
Good question. I'd say Vegas has been on its current trajectory for at least a few decades (becoming more Disney-like and family friendly, accommodating a broader range of activities than just gambling/hedonism). Vegas seems to be converging with the global style of airport/mall entertainment zone that we see everywhere.
It's certainly true that the rest of the world is embracing certain things that previously seemed to only be in Vegas - the gambling mentality, not just with sports betting but other gambling-like consumer products such as Robinhood (I always thought the UX for Robinhood was similar to the betting apps).
They basically make the case that it's the widespread arrival of normies online - even a decade ago internet culture was still driven mainly by certain subcultures even if everyone was online. Now (especially post-pandemic) *everyone* is even more online, so this fratty culture is finally digital too instead of just physical. The marketing $ being spent by sports betting apps has certainly boosted it, and probably the culture of crypto/meme stocks as well. And certain public figures like Elon have gained prominence which also seems to empower it. But yeah, I think it's something that has always been with us in some form.
The idea that it's the widespread arrival of normies driving this reminds me of a related idea around all the hand-wringing about society being post-truth now. It is somewhat misguided because for the majority of history "truth" or knowledge has been hard to (or impossible) to identify. We just got used to it because we were living in a nice/weird internet subculture/bubble. Now the internet looks more like the real world, and we're reverting back to "post-truth" like the world has been for ages.
Not sure I love any of this, but maybe it's kind of liberating realizing the early internet up until about the mid 2010s was the exception rather than the norm.
This is a great point. The whole idea that there is a single fixed vantage point from which to survey society is a fallacy itself. The internet seems very effective at making us feel like that perspective is available. Life in the "real world" is all about understanding that your local circumstances are probably not universal, and the internet does seem to be replicating that more and more now.
Do you think Las Vegas has changed trajectory over the last decade or so to align with the rise of the Zynternet, or do you think Vegas has continued down its same old path, and it's just the rest of the world throwing up their hands and saying "sure yeah ok why not"?
I guess I'm asking what the underlying cause of the rise of the Zynternet is/was? Has it always been with us, and is just now becoming more socially acceptable (though I'm not sure why?), or is it a reactionary thing in response to the 2010s (or whatever)?
Good question. I'd say Vegas has been on its current trajectory for at least a few decades (becoming more Disney-like and family friendly, accommodating a broader range of activities than just gambling/hedonism). Vegas seems to be converging with the global style of airport/mall entertainment zone that we see everywhere.
It's certainly true that the rest of the world is embracing certain things that previously seemed to only be in Vegas - the gambling mentality, not just with sports betting but other gambling-like consumer products such as Robinhood (I always thought the UX for Robinhood was similar to the betting apps).
To your last question, this is a good podcast where Max Read and Josh Citarella discuss the rise of the Zynternet in greater depth: https://joshuacitarella.substack.com/p/the-zynternet-with-max-read
They basically make the case that it's the widespread arrival of normies online - even a decade ago internet culture was still driven mainly by certain subcultures even if everyone was online. Now (especially post-pandemic) *everyone* is even more online, so this fratty culture is finally digital too instead of just physical. The marketing $ being spent by sports betting apps has certainly boosted it, and probably the culture of crypto/meme stocks as well. And certain public figures like Elon have gained prominence which also seems to empower it. But yeah, I think it's something that has always been with us in some form.
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
The idea that it's the widespread arrival of normies driving this reminds me of a related idea around all the hand-wringing about society being post-truth now. It is somewhat misguided because for the majority of history "truth" or knowledge has been hard to (or impossible) to identify. We just got used to it because we were living in a nice/weird internet subculture/bubble. Now the internet looks more like the real world, and we're reverting back to "post-truth" like the world has been for ages.
Not sure I love any of this, but maybe it's kind of liberating realizing the early internet up until about the mid 2010s was the exception rather than the norm.
This is a great point. The whole idea that there is a single fixed vantage point from which to survey society is a fallacy itself. The internet seems very effective at making us feel like that perspective is available. Life in the "real world" is all about understanding that your local circumstances are probably not universal, and the internet does seem to be replicating that more and more now.
Alternative explanation: I'm just old now.