On taste
Developing 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
But “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“One of the misconceptions about AI is that it lessens the need for skill and expertise. I think the opposite is true: the more I use ChatGPT, the more I realize how valuable expertise is. Chatbots excel with specific prompts. If you ask it to challenge your brand positioning strategy, you'll get a generic answer. But if you ask it to challenge it
... See moreOne of my (many) contrarian beliefs is that we do not have strong enough preferences. We often blame social media or the speed of information as the reason why we’re easily distracted, but the real reason behind our inability to focus has less to do with the sheer quantity of media and more to do with our laziness when it comes to distinguishing wh... See more
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 moreTaste 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
I don't know much about art, but I know what I like.
— apparently nobody knows who said this
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.
no amount of process can replace taste.