Nick's Journal
One of the latest buzzwords and popular frames regarding AI is the importance of Taste. The general idea is sound on paper, suggesting that AI is leading to the further commoditization of nearly any form of media and that the implication will be that Taste will become the way to differentiate. I have a different perspective on this and I think it’s an important one for you to be able to hold if you truly wish to develop your sense of Taste.
My first issue with the typical frame is that it suggests that Taste will lead to economic benefit. That the marketplace will reward you for this supposed differentiation that you exhibit, that you will stand out from the sea of sameness that AI will have ushered in. The problem with this is the suggestion that prior to AI there was somehow not already an abundance of content. Any serious exploration of this topic would show that this was certainly not the case, at least not within the last decade. AI certainly does not make the situation better, but adding a second or third ocean of noise to an already vast ocean is more of the same rather than a new threat on the horizon.
If you have spent any time at all on the attention game then you understand that Taste is not really the path to engagement. In fact, I would argue that it is actually the antithesis to the current monetization strategies that are actually effective. You can tastefully write until your fingers bleed, which I intend to do personally (at least from my own perspective!) and it will not mean anything in the grand scheme of things. If a man types a million tasteful opinions and no one reads them, did he type them at all?
What people are often misrepresenting as Taste is actually brand or voice. And these can and do exist irrespective of Taste. The vast majority of effective monetization that supporters of the Taste narrative would point to happened because of pre-existing attention, fame or market access. The Taste might have played a part in the success of a product, but it would not have mattered without the former prerequisites. And in many cases, a lack of Taste can and is overcome by sheer force of brand appeal.
My next issue is that it presupposes that Taste requires monetary success in order to validate it. And in this I could not disagree more vehemently. Taste almost always requires one to actually eschew the easy dollar and the current trend. True Taste is maintaining one’s preferences and choices in spite of popular opinion. It is the journey of having developed your individual preferences with a firm understanding of why they matter, and then sticking to them over demonstrably inferior options.
The reason that Taste only seems to come with age and experience is that it is almost invariably a long-term strategy, one that often does not result in immediate (or any) reward, and one that requires discipline, self-esteem and individual knowledge seeking in order to acquire. In the modern world, if relying on observation alone, the signals that come from the marketplace would never result in a development of Taste. They would all point to the latest trends, to topics and opinions that generate controversy and outrage and never to most of the actual worthwhile things in life.
Fashion is dominated by trends for the very reason that clothing brands need to promote new purchases at all times. Never mind that no one in their right mind should ever own velvet anything, the whole point is that there is a two-to-three year cycle that is being targeted and inferior choices are included in that cycle by necessity. If you blindly follow the hottest trends, you WILL end up with outfits that you wear only one time during the brief window in which they were trendy. And you will undeniably lack Taste.
The same is true of nearly everything in life. I wrote last week on values, and these can easily be construed as a form of Taste. I write on artistic choices in my writing that are clearly Taste driven. The discussions you have with your friends and family, the way you conduct yourself at work, your diet and exercise regimen, these are all Taste with a different casing.
In closing, contrary to the trendy spin that I currently see dominate articles, I do not think that Taste will be a critical skill to have in a post-AI world. I think it is a critical skill to have if you value your sanity, your personal well-being and your relationships, as it will allow you to ignore the endless barrage of others’ opinions.
It will not, however, align you well with the current attention economy on which so much of the world is run. If you aren’t talking about the latest and greatest thing, it is unlikely that many will care. The algorithms will not seek out your incredibly tasteful design choices, the decisions that you make in a business world that is designed around conformity and equal outcomes will not miraculously make an exception for your personal preferences and Taste and the world at large, that is increasingly parroting the same five ideas, will not hoist you on its shoulders for showing true insight.
And none of those things are a good reason to ignore Taste. For those of you who do hold the line and try to provide content or products that are not endlessly optimized to the point of losing any and all personality, I will do what I can to seek you out. I suspect that you will be hard to find though and that you will find it increasingly hard to hold that position if you are doing it for any reason other than the pursuit of the thing itself. The Age of AI will not reward Taste. It won’t even know that it still exists.
Much love as always,
Nick