It's 2026 and "taste" is now a word that's thrown around every day like "agent" and "skills." Open any social media app and you'll find plenty of opinions about taste, slop, or tasteslop in the age of AI.
At the risk of adding to the noise, here is my contribution to the discourse about taste.
Desire for Human Connection
As humans, we tend to seek out people like ourselves. We want to connect with people who have similar interests and preferences as us—people who spend their time, money, and energy doing similar things as us.
There's nothing wrong with that. That's how we naturally are.
A Historically Useful signal
In the times before generative AI, having good taste was a useful signal. Having a certain trait meant that you had to overcome friction and tension to attain that trait. It signaled that you "put in the work." For example:
- Having well-defined abs meant that you overcame the friction of obsesity and maintained a disciplined routine of exercise and diet
Insight, Credibility
Examples of elites moving on
- Skinny to big to ozempic
- Design trends: skeumorphic, flat design illustrations
- having pale skin was considered a status because you didn't have to work. now that the middle class works inside, having tan skin is a status symbol that you don't have to go outside to work anymore
- having certain clothes, certain shoes, or knowing certain artists are signals that you had to do your research
- put in the work
Links
Why Tech Bros Are Now Obsessed with Taste
Taste Is Eating Silicon Valley