Part 13/15:

The 2016 election of Trump is identified as a watershed moment, significantly accelerating the collapse of mainstream culture. Hollywood's progressive establishment, faced with a real populist challenge, responded with even more aggressive virtue signaling and bureaucratic activism, which only amplified the cultural divide.

The Future: Fragmentation, AI, and the End of a Shared Culture

The panel concludes that as AI, social media, and streaming continue to evolve, the monoculture is gone forever. Culture will be regionally, ideologically, or niche-based, with minimal shared moments or common ground.

This fragmentation might be a blessing or curse—with diverse voices emerging, but also the loss of unity and coherence that once made pop culture a unifying force.