2023 - The View from Mid-Paradigm Shift

Right now, we are in the middle of a professional and societal paradigm shift accelerated by the Covid Pandemic of the past few years. The issue comes down in many ways. First example. We are currently (July 2023) in the middle of a widespread strike by writers and actors in the entertainment industry. The issue boils down to how to characterize re-broadcast of the shows written by these writers and acted by these thespians (use of fancy word to avoid too much repetition). ... At the time the last a contract was negotiated, streaming services were in their infancy, or at least toddler stage. They were characterized as "new media" and the actors and writers didn't demand (or recieve) regular levels of residual payments for re-broadcast through the new media. But times have changed. At this point, the producers (networks, media companies, studios, etc.) through the experience of the pandemic and the quickly-developing new modes of transmitting streaming services, realized that if they primarily used the modes cacagorized as "new media" for re-transmitting the productions, then they could stop paying residual payments to the actors. The formlerly lucrative (or at least decent) residuals dried up p and many work-a-day actors suddenly found their income plummetting. And this happened at the same time that the profits for the producers soared . . . in part, because the didn't have to cut residual checks. Hence the strike. In a way, this appears to be nothing more than an attempt by the actors and writers to re-establish what had been a stable system prior to the advent of streaming. Likewise, producers are fighting to keep the windfall (as I see it) that streaming has created by cutting their costs to the actors and writers. Second example. Throughout the 20th and early 21st century, the symbol of American prosperity and wealth has become the Central Business District (CBD) in each major American city. This was where office workers gathered, and it also drew properieters of the services (restaurants, stores, entertainment) used by these same white-collar office workers. The same communication revolation that is playing out among the actors and writers also caused a shift here. . . . It is becoming easier and easier for office workers to do their work from their homes in the subburbs - to which they had fled to avoid the chaos that the CBD crowding also contained - and the difficult commutes from the suburbs to the CBD. Originally, the Covid Pandemic accelerated change because it wasn't safe to crowd together - and the office workers suddenly discovered how nice it was to avoid the chaotic commute! Just now, it is beginning to dawn on developers and commercial landlords that the needs to which they catered, and from which they made their profits, are changing. The CBD is rapidly evolving (and offices that were once humming are now very quiet). What to do? Particularly when the financing for building and the rent structure does not yet reflect the changes caused by better communication infrastructure and fewer white-collar "customers" needing less space. In both these cases, no one knows quite what will happen, and the amount of anxiety and speculation surrounding these changes is also at a height. This is another reason for our current level of anxiety. I am writing this (again) in part to crystalize for myself the moment we have reached as of July 2023. I look forward to seeing where all this speculation leads in the next couple years.