Universal access to cultural works at zero marginal cost defines the new horizon

Evidence

Not satisfied with their large-scale distribution in Western populations over the course of the twentieth century, such experiences are, thanks to the free access provided by Google Books or YouTube, in the process of universalization. For the (increasingly modest) price of a computer, or even a simple mobile phone, and an internet connection, billions of humans will soon have millions of books, images, songs, films and television series at their disposal for a marginal cost of zero. Avignon in July raised to the power of a thousand, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year anywhere on the planet – such is the horizon of the attention economy. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 28

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with Benjamin’s ‘work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’ — the universality of access as a Frankfurt question. — connects to: Theory survives new cultural phenomena when treated as an open horizon — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 728

Broader Connections

• Theory survives new cultural phenomena when treated as an open horizon #expands (0.72) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 728