The Good Taste Economy

What if every big creative shift in history – including AI – followed the same script? A relentless pattern of turning expensive skills into cheap, ordinary products. Would you want to know what happens next?

• The printing press made manuscripts reproducible.
• Sheet music made music reproducible.
• Mass production made products reproducible.
• Photography made pictures reproducible.
• Recorded sound and video made performances reproducible.
• Software made processes reproducible.
• Generative AI is making expertise reproducible.

Homogenization is the common thread. Each paradigm shift follows the same pattern. It raises the baseline and compresses the variance. Work that once required specialized skill becomes accessible to everyone. What was wildly diverse in style, quality, or method becomes standardized, predictable, and formulaic. Creativity doesn't disappear, but gets forced upward, seeking higher ground above the new floor.

• Printing pushed creativity past handwriting – into ideas.
• Sheet music pushed creativity past improvisation – into composition.
• Mass production pushed creativity past craftsmanship – into design.
• Photography pushed creativity past likeness – into vision.
• Recordings pushed creativity past presence – into production.
• Software pushed creativity past execution – into strategy.
• Generative AI is pushing creativity past practice – into taste.

AI isn't coming for your creativity. But your value no longer depends on your past technical expertise. It depends on knowing what's terrible and what's delightful, what magic is missing, and what new wonder is worth bringing into the world.

Because when everyone can make everything, the future will belong to those who clearly see what's worth making.