There are moments in history when culture shifts so dramatically that people can feel it happening around them. New ideas arrive, collide with older ones, and leave behind a different landscape. The twentieth century was filled with these moments. Modernism challenged inherited assumptions. Jazz transformed musical language. Film reshaped storytelling. Rock, hip-hop, and electronic music expanded the possibilities of sound and identity. By the end of the century, digital tools had begun changing what art itself could be. Today, the picture is different. We have access to an extraordinary amount of creative work. Millions of books, films, songs, photographs, and illustrations are available almost instantly. Yet for all this abundance, much of contemporary culture feels familiar. Stories often follow well-worn emotional paths. Films revisit established formulas. Popular music returns to the same images and themes. Even when the surface changes, the underlying structures frequently remain...