We can measure almost anything now, and improve almost anything we measure. Taste is the one thing that refuses. It is not a score to raise or a funnel to tune. It is what is left of you after all the optimizing is done.
If you have known me for a while, you probably know I love making short form video about emerging technology, and about what I ate. Some people love it, some people hate it. Lately my taste has shifted toward writing, and toward one question I cannot let go of: in a world of infinite choice and AI, what stays human?
Taste, in one line
Taste is not about having more things. It is about having better filters. It is shaped, not bought, and it is absorbed long before it is learned.
What is taste?
There is no formula. Most of what we call taste is really discernment and judgment: what do we keep, and what do we cut? Good discernment is deeply human, and it cannot be optimized.
It is shaped by everything you have lived. The places you have lived in, the cultures you have met, the books you read, the music you keep on, the people who mark you, and the moments that change you. You absorb it before you can name it.
Taste is shaped, not bought.
What is predictive taste?
Predictive taste is not guessing the future. It is understanding the present deeply enough to see where it might go. The people we call tastemakers tend to notice things early. They recognize the artist before the world does, and they feel a cultural shift before it turns obvious.
That is not a better algorithm. It is sensitivity. They pay attention, they know the history, they hold the context. Content is abundant now. Luxury is more accessible, options are everywhere. But taste has never been about more access. It has always been about the choosing.
AI can analyze patterns, but culture is not just patterns, it is human experience. Algorithms recommend. Good taste chooses.
Is taste a social language?
Yes. Taste is a form of communication, a social code. The clothes you wear, the rooms you make, the art you hang. They all say something about who you are. So the honest question is who you are saying it to. Are you performing taste for an algorithm?
The algorithm rewards visibility. Taste rewards meaning.
How does taste evolve?
Taste evolves, but it is not a race, and you cannot optimize your way into it. It grows through stages, and most people stop at the second one.
How taste evolves, in four stages
- Instinct. Taste is about function. What do I need? What helps me survive?
- Identity. Taste becomes a signal. What does this say about me? How do others see me? Many people stop here, and taste turns into performance.
- Intuition. A quieter understanding. Real taste does not announce itself, it is recognized.
- Worldview. Taste stops being about objects and becomes a quality of mind, cultivated by a lifetime of paying attention.
When two tastes collide
The interesting thing about taste is that it is not about everyone agreeing. Enter Jean. Jean is a former colleague of mine who might be my polar opposite. We think, act, and dress differently, because we have lived completely different lives on opposite sides of the world. The one thing we share is that we care deeply about art.
I have come to think the best curators are not the people with the strongest opinions. They are the ones who can understand why someone else sees beauty somewhere they do not. That is the whole idea behind what Jean is building.
The best curators are not the people with the strongest opinions. They are the ones who can understand why someone else sees beauty somewhere they do not.
Jean wrote a little about the same idea, from his side of the world, in Beyond the canvas.
Where this leaves the walls in your home
Taste cannot be optimized. But it can be met. That is the quiet bet behind ArtMatch: instead of asking what you are looking for, size, colour, budget, as if art were furniture, it asks who you are, and lets the right work find you. A short style quiz reads the pattern in what you are drawn to, and a real person chooses each piece by hand. The machine does the looking. A human does the choosing. That order never reverses.
You can take the style quiz here, or browse the full collection if you would rather wander first.
Everything can be measured now, and most of it will be. Taste is where you get to stay a person. Spend it on the things that echo your own energy.
First published on Katreena’s Substack. Read and subscribe there.
