On taste
Steve Jobs, on Microsoft:
The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste, and I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their product.
Taste isn't some mysterious gift bestowed at birth—it's simply what happens when you pay close attention to what moves you.
Sari Azout • What matters in the age of AI is taste
From Ezra Klein:
AI might be able to churn out content faster than we can, but we still need a human mind to sift through and figure out what’s good. In other words, A.I. is going to turn more of us into editors. But editing is a peculiar skill. It’s hard to test for, or teach, or even describe. But it’s the crucial step in the creative process that
... See moreDeveloping taste is an exercise in vulnerability: it requires you to trust your instincts and preferences, even when they don’t align with current trends or the tastes of your peers. Because while having taste is cool, taste itself reflects a certain type of uncool earnestness – a commitment to one’s own obsessions and quirks.
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
“Why did I love that essay and not this one? What about that painting made me stop and stare?
Someone’s sense of taste also involves recognizing the gap between what they have made and what they intended to make.
To train our own taste, we must become cooks who aren’t scared to make food that may end up tasting terrible. To live in ‘the gap’ as Ira G
... See moreno amount of process can replace taste.
I don't know much about art, but I know what I like.
— apparently nobody knows who said this
I think there’s a lot of depth to be found in the pursuit of beauty, I just think we tend to underestimate the extent to which our taste can be meaningful, rooted in something true about us, rather than reactive and trend-driven. Lately, when I find myself wanting something new, I’ve been considering whether the lack I’m feeling is more fundamental
... See moreBut “good” taste is all relative — or, even more devastating, it’s all incredibly arbitrary. So many of the things people associate with “good” taste are just white bourgeois taste. They aren’t better or smarter or more beautiful or creative, they’re just at a price point that says “good taste,” or at least orbits in the same aesthetic univers
... See more