On taste

The mainstream conversation about AI and taste is boring. Can machines even have taste? Will AI replace creativity? Is generative art real art? These are À rebours questions. Consumption and curation. They miss the point entirely.

Taste that only consumes produces nothing when you finally ask it to create . We’ve established that real taste is tied to a personal point of view. Well, the one prerequisite for having a point of view is having a life. Not a reference library

Taste is accumulated through contact with the world, not through the production of moodboards.

Half of Silicon Valley talks about taste now the way sommelier hobbyists talk about terroir: with enormous confidence, zero productive capacity, and the unmistakable pleasure of smelling their own farts. They think having taste means knowing the right references and owning a Noguchi lamp. It doesn't. Taste, real taste, has always been a darkly... See more

Because what’s demonstrated here is that tasteis actually a function of all kinds of contextual information, including information wholly extrinsic to the thing itself. (This is why wack people can ruin something you love.) There is no purely inherent value that exists in a vacuum, separate from cultural information. Context is always... See more

Taste isn't some mysterious gift bestowed at birth—it's simply what happens when you pay close attention to what moves you.

I’m talking about what you might call the “theory of maximum taste.” This theory is based on the idea that exposure to genius has the power to expand your consciousness. If you spend a lot of time with genius, your mind will end up bigger and broader than if you spend your time only with run-of-the-mill stuff. The theory of maximum taste says that

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