I also think certain countries and subcultures will excel in the soft skill. When I was in Croatia, how the interacted with social media was so different. Cause most of the apps are localized with only the most viral foreign content breaking thru. Your ability to be one way online and another offline is diminished. And so many other factors: third places, friendships, hustle culture- most countries outside the US don’t get paid for their content and thus the machine is different.
Amazing analysis! I think this could also tie into collective effervescence, and really hope we can have more of the "you just had to be there" moments irl instead of watching it all unfold on a screen.
Super interesting and smart read! Something always felt a bit nebulous about the idea of the taste economy to me —lots of implicit class/access signaling in that idea, plus a lot of “Taste is what I say it is” from (wannabe) tastemakers. And then Gen z want to be the same as each other anyway, which flies in the face of what I think of as taste…
My fear is that AI companionship competes with natural charisma (I am too old to say rizz) and will end up feeling more appealing/safer to those who aren’t at the top of the pyramid, precisely because it offers this frictionless validation. And then what if it weakens people’s muscles to experience actual benefits of in person interactions? This is what keeps me up at night…
Yep the concept of ‘good taste’ is inherently problematic/elitist. But yeah I think that’s a valid fear. I can’t really imagine that anyone with positive pre-smartphone social experiences would ever be satisfied with giving that up in favor of frictionlessness. But it’s definitely possible that younger generations might be satiated by AI companionship, because their formative social development years were so heavily digitally mediated. My personal fear is that, if we don’t address this soon, it’ll escalate into an impenetrable generational rift that interrupts a critical function of society (being able to talk to each other). This brings up things like return-to-office, which Gen Z wants for this very reason, but older generations don’t want because our society doesn’t offer the infrastructure to support it (childcare). 🫠
I think this is a very interesting take. Usually I'm hearing that social skills are deteriorating and we're f*cked. But it's refreshing to hear the optimism that actually, it may be increasing the value of such skills that the majority of people are lacking. Hopefully that kind of charisma doesn't become such an exclusive luxury - I'd hope people are working on themselves enough so that it becomes more common than the Gen Z stare
Thanks! While the social skills deterioration is definitely worrisome, I'm hopeful because at least it's not something that can be gatekept or monetized. It's innate within us, and it doesn't need to cost anything to go outside and talk to someone.
great read, again! I love thinking about how we/culture ultimately resist, turn away from, or undermine dominant trends. and not to toot my own horn, but I the "taste essay" industry is what got me on substack. I had to share what I thought everyone was missing: https://substack.com/@karamary/p-140756845
You are right, charisma is not taught. Charisma is a natural gift, which is why some artists, musicians, actors, and reality television stars may not be in the top one percent in their craft, but they have a charm about them that audiences love.
Thanks! Hmm that's an interesting point, I'd agree that visual AI technology could even further flatten taste but we're already so far gone - I feel like people are replicating looks with dupes already more for affordability vs not knowing where the influencer got the original item...like most people probably don't even care since they can't afford it!
I also think certain countries and subcultures will excel in the soft skill. When I was in Croatia, how the interacted with social media was so different. Cause most of the apps are localized with only the most viral foreign content breaking thru. Your ability to be one way online and another offline is diminished. And so many other factors: third places, friendships, hustle culture- most countries outside the US don’t get paid for their content and thus the machine is different.
Love this nuance! Would be really interesting to hear more about how this tension is playing out, or not, in other parts of the world
Yeah I wrote this it would be interesting to understand sentiment of various platforms correlated with if they are eligible for creator payouts
Amazing analysis! I think this could also tie into collective effervescence, and really hope we can have more of the "you just had to be there" moments irl instead of watching it all unfold on a screen.
agree, it definitely ties to collective effervescence!
Think piece ironically written by AI…. remarkable. Excellent piece!
Thank you!! Lol yeah...seems to be a lot of those around here nowadays 🫠
I enjoy your writing because it drives such curiosity
Super interesting and smart read! Something always felt a bit nebulous about the idea of the taste economy to me —lots of implicit class/access signaling in that idea, plus a lot of “Taste is what I say it is” from (wannabe) tastemakers. And then Gen z want to be the same as each other anyway, which flies in the face of what I think of as taste…
My fear is that AI companionship competes with natural charisma (I am too old to say rizz) and will end up feeling more appealing/safer to those who aren’t at the top of the pyramid, precisely because it offers this frictionless validation. And then what if it weakens people’s muscles to experience actual benefits of in person interactions? This is what keeps me up at night…
Yep the concept of ‘good taste’ is inherently problematic/elitist. But yeah I think that’s a valid fear. I can’t really imagine that anyone with positive pre-smartphone social experiences would ever be satisfied with giving that up in favor of frictionlessness. But it’s definitely possible that younger generations might be satiated by AI companionship, because their formative social development years were so heavily digitally mediated. My personal fear is that, if we don’t address this soon, it’ll escalate into an impenetrable generational rift that interrupts a critical function of society (being able to talk to each other). This brings up things like return-to-office, which Gen Z wants for this very reason, but older generations don’t want because our society doesn’t offer the infrastructure to support it (childcare). 🫠
Yeah, I like your theory because it feels like it provides a potentially more positive/humanistic vision with some resistance to tech baked in!
I think this is a very interesting take. Usually I'm hearing that social skills are deteriorating and we're f*cked. But it's refreshing to hear the optimism that actually, it may be increasing the value of such skills that the majority of people are lacking. Hopefully that kind of charisma doesn't become such an exclusive luxury - I'd hope people are working on themselves enough so that it becomes more common than the Gen Z stare
Thanks! While the social skills deterioration is definitely worrisome, I'm hopeful because at least it's not something that can be gatekept or monetized. It's innate within us, and it doesn't need to cost anything to go outside and talk to someone.
YES like, you don’t need to pay a charisma coach you found on TikTok, you can find it within yourself. there’s charisma within us all ✨
omg please nobody pay a charisma coach ☠️☠️☠️
RI > AI
Turbo symbolic times, right?
This was so good.
Thank you!!
too good!!
great read, again! I love thinking about how we/culture ultimately resist, turn away from, or undermine dominant trends. and not to toot my own horn, but I the "taste essay" industry is what got me on substack. I had to share what I thought everyone was missing: https://substack.com/@karamary/p-140756845
You are right, charisma is not taught. Charisma is a natural gift, which is why some artists, musicians, actors, and reality television stars may not be in the top one percent in their craft, but they have a charm about them that audiences love.
Thanks! Hmm that's an interesting point, I'd agree that visual AI technology could even further flatten taste but we're already so far gone - I feel like people are replicating looks with dupes already more for affordability vs not knowing where the influencer got the original item...like most people probably don't even care since they can't afford it!