The kids keep looking at their PHONES

Image generation from large GPU driven models is the logical endpoint of that final sentence

"the disease of images" is such a term.

Everything keeps happening the same way, just the names and places change

There are a lot of things in old issues of wired, good and bad

this is extra good given the trajectory of Wired since then

The Edo period had Ukiyo-e, which they considered to be a decadent glaze of imagery. I think it's kind of a canard; you can easily lose yourself in images, but losing yourself isn't always a bad thing. I think the true badness is held within the fact that our systems, our lives make us desire this escape through their roteness and brutality. You don't need as much escape if your lived experience isn't so harsh and alienating to begin with.