It's More Than Just Vibes

In our present technological era, humans have also needed a new framework to avoid drowning in the daily firehose of entertainment, media, and information. Given this setting of increasing complexity, it becomes more appealing to use an associative concept like “vibes” as a simplifying framework for understanding or self-expression. If we can’t mak... See more

In our present technological era, humans have also needed a new framework to avoid drowning in the daily firehose of entertainment, media, and information. Given this setting of increasing complexity, it becomes more appealing to use an associative concept like “vibes” as a simplifying framework for understanding or self-expression. If we can’t mak... See more

In other words, “vibes” are similar to the approximations that machine learning systems use, and the two feed off of each other synergistically. The situation is precisely encapsulated by Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

It has become clear that there is nothing in this world too far-fetched to become a vibe. The vibes are out of control. Anything can become a vibe. Even “zero vibes” could soon be a vibe trend, as long as you market it correctly

"vibes" seems to be shorthand now for "a thing that exists and is compelling beyond logic"

Her concept has more depth than those theories. I would characterize economic vibes as collective feelings in the digital age. Almost all previous versions of economic theory around consumer sentiment have been formed in a pre-internet world. Until now, no one had updated those frameworks for the age of algorithms. When I emailed Scanlon about how ... See more