Steve Johnson’s take on popular culture. The usual hypothesis is that the addictive nature of popular culture dumbs us down, alienates us from our sorroundings, and is partly responsible for the increase in "sex and violence" around us. Jonhson turns this hypothesis on its head. He looks at how pop culture has actually become more complex and involving over the last 30 years. Looking at the entire gamut of popular cultural products – from games – that stimulate the reward centres of the brain, to TV shows – that show us complex interpersonal relationships set in the context of social/political relaity – popular media is not ‘dumbing us down, rather it is smartening us up’. Definitely worth a read – especially for the insights on television ( obviously since i work in TV), though his analysis on games and gaming also is fascinating.