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Ben Saltiel's avatar

Differentiated taste requires a strong view and a willingness to think independently. Read different things, have different inputs.

Being okay with other people not agreeing / seeing things your way.

Meghan Swidler's avatar

do you feel like this can be learned? i think it's honestly just something you just have or don't. i've always just felt like i have had that since birth.

Rene Zou's avatar

Taste is being able to understand ‘zeitgeist’—tastemakers are people who are able to capture what a society values, while staying true to themselves.

In determining what to make, we need to understand how society derives meaning

Kiran Kashalkar's avatar

The thing with "understanding and teaching" taste or anything else is that if it can be understood and taught then it is learnable. In a world where given enough hardware, memory can surpass "any" brain capacity, it's impossible to say something that one can understand and teach cannot be learned by AI faster and better than humans. Honestly speaking though, that's a good thing. AI can use some taste!

Rina Takahashi's avatar

Amazing piece as always. I also liked this article. I want to hear what you think! https://ciguleva.substack.com/p/taste-is-the-new-core-skill?r=31vlwd&utm_medium=ios

Matthew Beebe's avatar

Thanks! Interesting. I am afraid we’ll be skipping the make lots of things part because of AI. It seems like a downward spiral there. We need “more” “better” taste to use AI well, but because of AI we have fewer opportunities to develop taste.

Also I am curious what you think about the role of sharing the things we make? On the one hand you say “live with what you make” which to me implies “putting it out there” but also edit ruthlessly means we have to ask “does this earn its place”. Also seems like competing forces… it’s a version of the Ira Glass thing right?

Thanks super thought provoking.

Gaurav Singh's avatar

Great practical framework. One thing I would add: taste can’t be fully built through consumption and curation alone. It requires shipping, putting something in front of real users and feeling the gap between your intention and their experience. The ‘library of references’ Emily Weiss built is necessary but not sufficient. The reps of shipping are where taste actually develops.