- Lyotard says: “Classicism seems to be ruled out in a world in which reality is so destabilized that it offers no occasion for experience but one for ratings and experimentation” (40).
When we were discussing this in class, one of the examples brought up for an explanation was that of television ratings. Specifically, we talked about how ratings dictate whether or not we allow ourselves to experience something. That last part struck me. We allow ourselves to experience certain things, but not others, simply because of judgements. I'll browse Netflix in search of something to watch when I'm bored, and I'll check the descriptions and the ratings, or even what percentage Netflix things my interest in this piece of entertainment will be. That's so wild, when you stop and think about it. An algorithm is determining whether or not I partake in something because of how much it thinks I will enjoy that something.
We also talked about the TV show, Black Mirror. This makes me think about a very particular episode, "Nosedive." In the episode, our society is controlled by a social media app in which people rate each other out of 5. Certain events, jobs, or communities are for higher rated people only, while people with extremely low ratings could be deemed as "untouchables" or even imprisoned. Their lives are entirely dictated by the ratings that they give each other. And that destroys their reality. It's all abstract.
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