Cultural Signals

We need gateopeners just as much as we need gateclosers , because culture ought to exist as an artery of abundant rivers, not just as a system of tightly controlled dams.

The enthusiast - like the snob - deals in knowledge. But instead of hoarding and protecting, they are driven by an urge to shepherd people beyond the sea of mediocre slop to discover awe-inspiring music, literature, art and food. To guide them towards the light.

While the snob hoards information as a mark of superiority, the doorman deals in vibes and clout

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... 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.