Taste Is The Wrong Word
Eric Seufert writing about distribution and the human attention premium:
I've seen it claimed that "taste" will be the determinant of success in an era of mass-produced AI content because it will allow for qualitative differentiation. I think the opposite is true: the analytical, sterile process of refining attention into a finished good (monetization) will dominate this new timeline, as it will facilitate distribution through marketing. That may be the antithesis of taste.
Taste, as a word, is a losing bet. It can mean judgement. It can also mean "people like us know it when we see it."
But what about "taste?"I reject the idea that we need to choose between velocity and judgement, slop vs taste.
The whole organization needs intuition and judgement (more meaningful and measurable than "taste"). And the organization as a whole needs to move fast, when the moment calls for it. Gotta walk and chew gum, lads.
Taste in the common tech parlance is a meaningless, ineffable meme. It's a cultural signifier rather than a specific attribute or skill.
This feels right.
Taste is useful when it points to aesthetic imperatives. It is useless when it becomes magic dust.
The useful version is judgement: specific, practised, legible and fast enough to matter.