- Publishers are incentivized to lean into what’s already worked. If a particular genre of song gets popular, labels will continue to make that kind of music; if a movie is a huge hit, studios will continue to use what made it popular. We even see this in broader cultural trends, like with [[Gomes, Carlee. 'The Puritanical Eye'. Specchio Scuro, 2023.|nostalgia-bait]]. Creating media that becomes more and more optimized limits and discourages originality in art. According to Liz Pelly as quoted in [[Chayka, Kyle - 2019 - Can Monoculture Survive the Algorithm 1|‘Can Monoculture Survive the Algorithm?’]] about “streambait” music: > “[Streambait] is similar to the way clickbait has a negative impact on journalism, when editorial decisions are made based on what’s popular.” - Despite the lower barrier to entry for things like music, algorithms are still biased and do not typically reward new, interesting, unique projects. - [[2024-06-22]] — Also thinking about how this ties into [[{5.2b1b} best practices lead to average work]]. Any time you’re creating based on what worked for *someone else*, it’s not likely that the result will be “better” than theirs. This limits our creativity. Art and media fall into the same trap as businesses when it comes to [[{24} the tyranny of the right answer]]. - **The internet prioritizes optimization, which comes at the cost of creativity.** In this way, like I mention in [[{2.5b} not all media should be digital media]], it seems like we’re actively devaluing our work by relying on things like social media — so how much more accessible is it making things *really*? - [[{17} the layout of the internet is starting to feel life a cookie-cutter new development]]