𝗧𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲, 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲?
The bottleneck has shifted.
For most of history, the challenge was production. If you wanted a painting, someone had to paint it. If you wanted software, someone had to write the code. The people who could produce had the advantage.
Today, production is abundant. AI generates logos in seconds. It builds landing pages and code scaffolds instantly. It drafts articles before you finish a thought.
The challenge is no longer producing. The challenge is deciding what is worth producing.
The bottleneck moved from creation to judgment. This makes one word relevant again: Taste.
When creation becomes cheap, discernment becomes expensive. Anyone can generate ten options. Not everyone can pick the one worth pursuing.
I used to think successful people had an "aura." I tried to copy their clothes, their tools, and their habits. I thought the aesthetic was the secret.
I was wrong. The clothes and tools were just evidence of taste. Taste is the judgment behind the choices.
It is the accumulation of thousands of small decisions. Decisions about what to keep and what to discard. Over time, these decisions become instinct.
There are two types of taste:
Personal Taste This answers: What feels like me? It comes from curiosity and experimentation. It acts as a filter to discard what does not align with your identity.
Tastefulness This answers: What is excellent within a craft? In engineering, it is simplicity over cleverness. In writing, it is clarity. In architecture, it is balance. This is shaped by standards and years of knowledge.
AI can generate thousands of options. It cannot decide which option matters. It cannot decide which option reflects your values or serves your audience. Those are judgment problems.
Judgment comes from experience and taste.
You can develop taste like any other skill: • Consume great work. • Study high-level performers and ask why their work works. • Dissect the trade-offs in every product. • Cross disciplines. Engineers should study design. Designers should study music. • Build things. Wrestling with constraints sharpens your judgment.
Skill used to mean being able to create. Now, skill means being able to choose.
Production is abundant. Judgment is scarce. The ability to recognize what is worth keeping is your greatest asset.
Source: https://dev.to/tijan_io/taste-craft-or-something-more-21p3
Optional learning community: https://t.me/GyaanSetuAi