Cultural Signals

LLMs are word-prediction machines, and good writing is not one of the ways that human beings are predictable.

The emotional tension rises when we try to reconcile these free-to-use chatbots with the endless media hype around AI, the philosophical polarisation between doom and abundance, the thinly veiled shilling on X and tasteless slop almost everywhere else

1. Lore is anti-marketing 2. Lore is inner psyche-management 3. Lore is born-baroque imaginative irony 4. Lore is Posture, Narrative, Behavior (PNB) triad molecules 5. Lore is narrative territory catalyzed by shaky epistemologies 6. Lore is about circumstances you manage, not problems you “solve” 7. Lore is epic-orthogonal everyday life habits

as TikTok users begin to flock back to an obsession with thinness, the message behind the so-called encouragement seems clear: it’s about making weight loss mean again.

Weight loss and disordered eating communities have long had a presence on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Tumblr, YouTube, WeHeartIt, and Instagram. But in the past few years, weight loss content on TikTok was intensified by the development and popularity of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy. Many experts and us... See more

It’s no longer just about reuse; it’s about status. A unique find isn’t unique if everyone’s hunting for it. And sustainability becomes meaningless when it’s just another excuse to keep buying.

TikTok, Depop, and Instagram have created a new kind of fashion influencer: the vintage micro-curator. Their power lies not in designing clothes, but in storytelling — spinning historical context, designer lore, and aesthetic moodboards into content gold. This type of content is coming along leaps and bounds, and there’s real value in this narrativ... See more

Isra describes her former relationship with music as an addiction. To replace it, she now listens to audiobooks, something that supports her work as a writer. Shaz has made a similar shift, turning to podcasts, Islamic lectures, and the Quran as part of a deeper commitment to her faith. While these are still forms of audio input, they represent a m... See more

Last year, anti-tech activist and writer August Lamm predicted that abstention would be the next big thing. On X, she wrote: “I’m calling it right now, abstention is the new big thing; sobriety, celibacy, digital minimalism, dumb phones and religion. The age of hedonistic hyper-consumption is over. We are moving into a new peaceful age marked by mo... See more