Introducing Pop Cultural Precursors
Tracing the origin stories of the latest trends in the zeitgeist
My name is Chris Baker and I'm a writer and editor in the Bay Area. I've written about innovation, technology, speculative fiction, and pop culture for outlets like Slate, Wired, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Giant Robot, and California Sunday.
I recently realized that one thread running through my writing has been a predilection to examine some current trend or phenomenon through the lens of some precursor phenomenon. Whenever I read about a new development in the zeitgeist, I tend to think about a predecessor event from the past (and disappear down a research rabbit hole digging up more details).
I created this Substack as a way to share some of my past writings on this topic, to revisit and update some of that stuff, and also as a place to continue exploring this area. I’m aiming to post a new piece weekly, so keep checking back. And smash that subscribe button, as they say, to keep up with the latest pop cultural precursors.
