Robin Good

There is an extreme kind of philosophical skepticism – dating back to the ancient Greek Pyrrho – that there is no such thing as “truth” or the answer. We have only interpretations.

While it’s probably one of the corniest things I’ll ever write in this column, I’ve come to believe that developing taste is not so unlike going to therapy; it’s an inefficient, time-consuming process that mostly entails looking inward and identifying whatever already moves you. It’s the product of devouring ideas, images and pieces of culture not... See more

"The most credible form of advertising comes straight from the people we know and trust. Eighty-three percent of online respondents in 60 countries say they trust the recommendations of friends and family". - Nielsen 2015

So when we wonder where all the websites have gone, know it’s the curators we’re nostalgic for because the curators showed us the best the web had to offer once upon a time. And the curators— the tenders, aggregators, collectors, and connectors— can bring us back to something better. Because it’s still out there, we just have to find it.

Here’s the... See more

Curation has historically emerged at moments when institutions failed to provide coherence. Salons rose when the Church and monarchy lost epistemic control; DJs rose when record labels could no longer define taste; curators rise today because algorithms are riddled with decision fatigue, influencers are intrinsic to their own needs, and the... See more

We used to associate intelligence with accumulation. Who knew the most. Who could recall the fastest. Who sounded the smartest in a room.

But in a world where AI knows more than anyone—and everyone is shouting into the void—intelligence has quietly changed shape. It’s no longer about how much you know. It’s about how well you filter .