We often talk about how “high” and “low” culture, once two distinct things, have increasingly become intertwined. Wether it’s a pop star singing with a full symphony orchestra, or a fashion house doing a collaboration with a sneaker company, high and low have been coming together with a greater frequency over the last 25 years, and certainly since the start of the 21st century.

But what I think is also interesting, and maybe more recently has been gathering momentum, is another type of collapsing, this time from what I would call Back to Front.

There was a time when professional and consumers were two distinct entities. Sure, a doctor, advertising exec or lawyer was also a consumer, but those were two discreet parts of her identity.  But those distinctions seem to be breaking down quite a bit. Let me give you some examples:

• Trucks and tools that are marketed as  ”Professional Grade.”
• “Clinical Strength” personal care items.

I don’t recall my father needing “clinical strength” antiperspirant. But it’s not just the tools of the profession, it’s the professions themselves.  Think you could be a good General Manager of a sports team? Fifty years ago that meant arguing over a few drinks in a bar over who the local team should trade for in the off-season. Now, after pouring over reams of data, you build your own fantasy team. Think you could be a Hollywood mogul? Great, play the Hollywood Stock Exchange game.  Want to be a network programmer? Great, go dive into TV By the Numbers and give it a shot.

Walking around Manhattan the last few weeks, I’ve seen a lot of posters like these:

There is another one, I can’t remember the cable network right now, but the copy even jokes that you should watch the network, even if you don’t know what an upfront is. Yes, it is that time of year, and these ads will be gone in a few weeks, but the fact that these are no  longer confined to the pages of Variety and Hollywood Reporter is interesting.

Another example? Sephora has partnered with Pantone to create a new cosmetics line. How many people even knew what Pantone was a few years ago, other than people in design, house painting or publishing?

When everyone has the means of production, we’re now all looking for, expecting really, access to the tools of the trade. When you have this sort of back to front collapsing, combined with the collapsing of the high and the low, you get another aspect of the Cultural Singularity. Here now is a different kind of divide. Some people thrive in this new environment, where the rules have been effectively thrown out the window and the barriers have been removed. Others are completely overwhelmed, paralyzed by the seeming confusion brought about by this collapsing. “If everyone can do my job, or have access to my tools, then what, or who, am I?”

How does a Film/TV critic at The New York Times grapple with this: Style in The Wire is a 36-minute film that breaks down the brilliant HBO show to breathtaking levels of detail and erudition. Or how about this 20-minute masterpiece called In The Cut: The Dark Knight, a critical look at director Christopher Nolan’s choices during one critical scene in the film. When amateurs can produce criticism of this level, what do I need the professional critic for? For that matter, what do I need The New York Times for? And that’s why you see institutions clinging to tradition. They can’t handle the Cultural Singularity.  Can you?

April 29, Grand Theft Auto IV will be released worldwide. This figures to the biggest video game release of the year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t shatter just about every sales record now that it will be available on both Xbox 360 and PS3. The franchise has a massive built-in following that has been earned over the course of the series thanks to a genre-defying game, great marketing and the occasional controversy.

Hard-core gamers are going to be all over this one, and even some casual gamers, especially Xbox 360 owners, will probably check it out as well. But how can Rockstar Games, publisher of the title, bring in a new group of players?

With the announcement that fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld was involved with GTA IV, I think they are headed in the right direction, just the publicity alone puts the game in front of a new demographic. But ultimately I’m not sure if the overlap between fashionistas and gamers is strong enough.

On I don’t think trying to get hard-core sports gamers is the answer either. Just because you love playing Madden and play it for seven straight hours doesn’t mean you want to get involved with the GTA universe. Equally, I don’t think I would go after the World of Warcraft crowd either. They’ve already made their decision on which Massive, Intense Narrative Universe (MINU) they’re going to join.

I would however look to other entertainment genres and media franchises to see if I could pull in a crowd that doesn’t already have a video game allegiance, but has a track record of being interested in a MINU.

Fans of The Wire seem like a perfect well to drill. Deeply devoted fans of a series with morally ambiguous characters in a world that deals with cops, dealers, hustlers and the internal and external stuggles of life in the big city? The Wire and GTA seem made for each other. Perhaps get David Simon to write some of the episodic GTA content for the Xbox 360. How about even seeing some of the characters, like Bubbles, McNulty, The Greek or someone from his crew drop by Liberty City.

The key is not thinking outside the box, just finding another box about the same size and shape and dumping its content into yours.