Also —taste is not a reliably differentiated skill. We don’t know whether, at some point, AI advances will be able to effectively generate the semblance of idiosyncratic taste. But we can be quite sure that AI will never be able to replicate the experience of meeting friends for a 6pm happy hour cocktail and ending up on an unplanned New York City ... See more

I’d contend that the demand for live-ness is also connected to the boom in sports viewership and theater attendance. There is a growing appreciation of those inimitable moments where ‘ you just had to be there ’ because that specific experience can never again be exactly replicated.

As a form of value beyond material capital (what you own), cultural capital (what you know), and social capital (who you know) — Charisma Capital is defined by how you move through the world.

As the ability to hold a conversation or ‘work a room’ becomes less common, it also becomes more desirable. When nobody knows how to have fun at a party, being ‘the life of the party’ is an enviable characteristic. Our desperate desire for genuine human interaction is repositioning interpersonal skills, individuality, and generally ‘charisma,’ as a... See more

Most recently, we’ve seen the repurcussions of this behavioral evolution become meme-ified via the ‘Gen Z stare.’ While this has been overblown into another cross-generational spat, the negativity towards ‘stare’ is related to the valid perception that many young people seem unusually overwhelmed by social interaction. For Gen Z, the effects of tec... See more

Extrapolating from the premise of Aspirational Humanity , I’m proposing that charisma , not taste, may be the most covetable skill in the age of AI. Perhaps your aesthetic sensibility is irrelevant, as long as you can hold a great conversation. AI can style your outfit, but it’s not going to be a helpful wingwoman at the bar. As our external facad... See more

Extrapolating from the premise of Aspirational Humanity , I’m proposing that charisma , not taste, may be the most covetable skill in the age of AI. Perhaps your aesthetic sensibility is irrelevant, as long as you can hold a great conversation. AI can style your outfit, but it’s not going to be a helpful wingwoman at the bar. As our external facad... See more