The permanent underclass will be sedated and dopamine-hacked by hyperpersonalized AI lovers, too wireheaded to have agency in the post-AGI age.

There are many warring Silicon Valley tribes these days—tech right, abundance, network state, whoever—but they all share the same big three meta-narratives:

1. Technological advancement is the root driver of historical progress, from economic growth to social liberalism to geopolitical dominance. If a society fails to lead in science/tech, it will

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NPCs start every morning with Starbucks and the Spotify algorithm. They’ve worked the same Big Tech job for the last 7 years, collecting a 5% annual raise and spending it on a surf trip to Hawaii. The NPC always votes Democrat but doesn’t know why. Hobbies include Netflix and “trying new restaurants.” Sometimes, they scroll the app Threads.

The NPCs... See more

Expert judgment only seems automatic because it channels the 10,000 hours of reps they’ve done before. In fact, AI may soon have better taste than you because it’s trained on that data. Humans, well, you better study up

All this taste talk has set off a minor arms race to prove that you have it. Founders show off their “taste” with garish high-end swag and pretentious company names like “The X Company of Y.” Suddenly, SaaS startups are hiring “storytellers,” documentary filmmakers, print magazine editors. They are throwing soirées with Luma waitlists and... See more

the Taste Guy is just the Idea Guy reinvented for the attention age. It’s trading meaning-making for trend-hopping and cosplaying success instead of earning it.