Navigating the AGI Era Virtuously | Ruby Thelot

I wrote a book called "A Few Essays on Taste," where the first essay is called "A Brief History of Taste," and I make the case that taste is not just aesthetic preference; taste is a way for people to consume virtuously.

The question of taste emerged in the 17th century, at a time where people needed guidance as to how to consume properly. So, in 1688, the Bill of Rights happens in England after the Glorious Revolution, and the nobility's powers are restrained.

And as they lose political power, they also lose cultural power. At the same time, you have the growth of the British colonies; you have immense amounts of wealth that are being generated in the United Kingdom. And suddenly you have this nouvelle bourgeoisie, you have this sort of new elite that emerges, and there's a belief that this emergence of excessive luxury will lead to the decay of society,right?

There's even a Macola writes in "Luxury" 1977 says, you know, that they believed that

excess would lead to effeminacy, that, like, men would lose their masculinity because things were too good. And so it is in the vacuum, in the reduction of the cultural power of the previous nobility, that the question of taste emerges.

And so you have people like the Earl of Shaftesbury, people like Alexander Pope who write about this in the 17th and 18th century. What's interesting to me is that we're in a similar position now. We're entering a similar industrial revolution.

We are faced with, or at the eve of, or maybe in the midst of, immense amounts of wealth being created, and we're asking ourselves, how do we consume virtuously? And that is why the question of taste is emerging.

It mirrors 17 and 18th century England in that sense.

It's like a self-governing, like, sort of structure that emerges so that people—like, in a way it's kind of like a survival instinct too, you know, like so much content being out there and so much slop being out there.

Yeah. And so what's notable about this is that what Pope and Shaftesbury tell us—Shaftesbury is the first aesthetician of the English tradition—he says, "Taste is harmony with nature,"right? Because he's a—it's kind of a deism. He says, well, if nature is God, and so nature is beauty, taste, the decisions must be in line with what, you know, unity, harmony, and that is his perspective on taste.

And so the nouveau riche, the person who's tasteless, you know, I think the way Pope says, like, his house looks like a—no proportions, like a big, big gate, and then he looks like an insect next to the gate.

The lake looks like an ocean,right? Everything's too big because there's too much wealth. And so it pushes for a natural, harmonious restraint, you know, tasteful decision, because it is virtuous to make good aesthetic decisions.

Yeah, it's almost—we become ungovernable. Good taste means I can't be fit into this little box that the algorithm is designed for this. And it's almost when people say the importance of taste, it's not just about having a preference, or it's not just about the aesthetics of it, but it's this bigger mission of how do you actually become ungovernable, how can you see past these algorithms, and all of that.

Yeah.

Yeah. That is so beautiful. Like, the virtuous point, I just could keep ruminating on it. How do you think—how else do you think taste manifests beyond just, like, aesthetic preference in the digital age?

I mean, what's interesting to me is that I think it could be effectuated around so many different facets of one's life,right? If it is truly virtue, then virtue is about, like, daily actions. Not to be, like, guru and self-helpy, but, like, one can make tasteful decisions in many different spheres of life.

I do, like, in SF when we people talk about, like, taste and also problems to find,right? And there are virtuous problems and some problems that are a bit less virtuous, perhaps.

Yeah.

But fundamentally, it is a question of how to deal with abundance,right? Right now we have an abundance of intelligence, abundance of capabilities, and it is a question of how to deal with that so that this abundance does not wreck and destroy society.

That is the purpose and the function of taste.