Perfection, Authenticity & Intuition
In the age of AI, those creating patterns will be rewarded with high amounts of satisfaction, while those with no soul to sign their work with, will be stuck in a no-reward purgatory of copying others
The other day I was thinking about AI — image generation, video generation, code & text generation.. you know.. all that. And I came to the realization (for the n-th time) that AI does it all perfectly.
AI writes good code. AI generates good text. AI generates OK images, and soon AI will generate OK videos. The line fades more and more every single day.
It’s almost like.. AI is becoming perfect at everything.
But then, why don’t we all collectively become “perfect” at everything too…?
Intro
Let me ask you a question — Why is one of the most watched porn categories the `amateur` one? Have you thought about that? I can’t help but notice how all my long-time porn-watching friends all say their preferred category is amateur…?! Why are people watching unprofessional porn, and not the high-quality Brazzers productions? Why are porn companies simulating low-effort production? Onlyfans? Why do models make so much money there? The blonde girl that did the things.. you know the one.
What is it about those 4K pu**y shots that doesn’t seem to work?
The answer is: perfection & authenticity.
The thing is.. “try-harded perfection” is only good the first time you experience it. Real perfection lies in the impurities and as such, real perfection is born in authenticity.
Authenticity
What does it mean to be authentic? Is it to go on stage in flip flops? Sure. Is it to make social media post with a typo? Yes. Is being authentic, to be Kanye and turn full-on MAGA, shout against Jewish people, and replace all your teeth with.. umm.. whatever he replaced them with? YES!
Being authentic means making mistakes.
“But AI makes mistakes too”, some say. YES, and when it makes these mistakes it CAN feel authentic. But only when it’s an unintended bug. :) Presenting a response full of emojis, trying to produce a seahorse emoji is in no way valuable to you, but it is authentic! You look at it, you giggle, and you think, “hah.. the clanker bugged”. The same way you read Kanye’s 300th tweet for the day and you think, “hah.. he’s psychotic”. Until day 3 hits.. and he’s still psychotic.. and then you block him.
Humans get used to stuff. Quickly.
Whenever someone succeeds in something, he creates copycats. The copycats, however, see nowhere near the results as the first mover they copied. We see their work, and it just.. does not hit the same. The first time you heard xxxtentacion? Mix of emotions, right? The lil pump x kanye song? Meh. Steve Jobs fired from Apple vs Sam Altman “fired” from OpenAI? Not the same. I can think of many more examples.. but they are all niche, so anyway — you get the idea.
Another word for copycats is, “patterns” — copycats become patterns. They try to do the same things their “object of truth” did and as so, creating patterns. The first copycat does it, the second one does it, then the third one and bam! it’s a pattern. When that happens, the people who observed have it really easy understanding if something is part of this newly formed pattern or not.. often from a few sights. Reading the first sentence of an AI-generated social media post. Taking one quick look at the AI-generated hero component of a new startup’s landing. Opening your DMs and seeing the first 3 words from a new request.
You just know it now. You can sense it. You’ve gained intuition.
Intuition
We know when someone is authentic. Females, for example, are really good at this. Like, REALLY good.
Ok, think with me for a second. How come there is this guy — very good-looking, just-enough jacked, somewhat ok financially, designer clothes, and such… but… he can’t get to participate in romance?! I bet you know him. From my observation, those guys, they do everything they can to become someone, and when they eventually become that someone… it doesn’t work. And rightfully so.
“Why?”, he asks. “What else must I do.. how much better must I become.. why do they pick that obvious loser over me?!”, he angrily think every time he gets rejected.
I would believe it boils down to “originality” — no one wants the “almost <thing>”.
Labubus & lafufus
MMA fighters & “MUN-FU-YUEN DEFENCE CLASS” trainers
Original M3s & aftermarket M-kits
And so on. You get the idea. Those who want something, want the real thing.
And those who believe they can’t get the real thing, settle with the <almost thing>.
Because when everyone else has the <thing>, its value drops. And it becomes undesirable. It stops being authentic, and it transforms into a product of someone’s now “timed” authenticity.
And that’s also pretty much why no one seems to appreciate the rejected guy.
Psychology will explain it with micro-expressions & body temperature.. hearth rate, and such.
Niche domain professionals will explain it with little details along the edges of the door, or that one specific cog in the watch’s mechanism.
For me personally? It is simply magic — the act of signing something with your soul.
I believe our brains are really complex, and even though I do not necessarily believe in true “unexplained” magic, I do believe “taming” our brains is magic. Why is it that every time we try so hard, we amount to low results, but when we “enjoy the journey”, we end up making it?
Why is it so that when someone does something well, people often end up saying “this person has put their soul into it”? Because they did.
They signed their work with their soul. By agreeing with “imperfect”.
Perfection
Ok.. so. The thought process so far:
Authenticity: soul-signing ability generated by impurities
Patterns: well.. patterns
Intuition: the ability to notice impurities & sense originality
So perfection?
The definition of perfection for me is for an external NOVEL product of an entity’s doing, to forcefully enter my mind, and cut out all the other senses & thoughts I am supposed to be experiencing, while experiencing this specific product.
I’ll give you an example with a song I like very much.
In this song (Camel — Lady Fantasy, 12:04), the perfection I am talking about is simulated, and I’m sure happened through a jam session in some garage.
In the last 30 seconds I enter a near-trance-like feeling. I close my eyes, get shivers across my entire body, and lose sense of time. I just enjoy it so incredibly much.
The reason? Maybe it’s just good.. maybe I just like it. “It’s not that deep bro”..
Well.. I do think it’s deep. You have to closely follow my instructions here to allow me to try and make you understand what I’m trying to say.. bear with me.
Go hear the following:
00:47 - 01:02
12:04 - 12:19
Notice how it’s 15 seconds each? It’s the same.
Now go hear the following again, with a slight change:
00:47 - 01:02
12:04 - till the end
Did you feel it? After 12:19 you got more of it, but did you assume the 12:19-end is gonna be a repetition of the 12:04 - 12:19 (which is 00:47 - 01:02)? I did, and every time it manages to surprise me with the additional tones.
That’s what perfection looks like for me — uncertainty, assumptions proven wrong, and crystal clear sound of someone’s original work.
Closing
That’s pretty much it. I think the always-improving AI makes us more human.
I don’t care how good it becomes at image/video generation, and I don’t care how “agentic” it will become, because at the end of the day it always ends up in a pattern. I see it as a tool and nothing else. It is my duty to receive the gift of speed it presents me and make it my mission to introduce originality & settle with impurities.
AI helps us all collectively gain more intuition when we consume.
We become better at filtering out the low-effort vs high-effort products.
We start appreciating impurities more.
We have long entered the age of quick dopamine.
And we have recently entered the age of quick results.
And in the age of quick results, patterns will get punished & copycats will think they have it easier, but copycats will be stuck in a pattern purgatory, while those creating patterns will feel unprecedented amount of satisfaction.
Dennis