the creative arena

taste > skills taste seems more scarce these days, and increasingly differentiating in the age of AI where so much of skills-based productivity is offloaded to compute. makes me think about the development of taste, and how we nurture taste for the next gen of humans.

The problem you solve for customers is increasingly one they can’t even articulate for themselves . The ones that are easy to understand have already been built and funded over the last 20 years. Building something of true excellence will require a hungrier engagement with the world—and that will have to start with developing superior taste.

the challenge. What is good? What is interesting? That part of the work is taste. “Taste is what enables designers to navigate the vast sea of possibilities that technology and global connectivity afford, and to then select and combine these elements in ways that, ideally, result in interesting, unique work

To me, the key to keeping taste is to be true to yourself. While I recognize that that sentiment would be more appropriate on a wine mom’s wall hanging, it is surprisingly hard. When no one cares about you and you make objects for the simple joy of creation, you’re under no pressure to conform your taste to anyone. When your audience grows—when art... See more

In a word, we’ve struggled for two years to find someone with taste—with an eye for what stands the chance of being interesting, entertaining, or useful to an audience. 

We’re not alone. I’ve talked to authors, podcasters, documentarians, late-night TV writers, YouTubers and TikTokers, and they all share this problem. Most of these creators are

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