Welcome to Post Cool

A Formula in Three Parts

A deep fried moment from certified cool person Honor Levy’s Instagram.

In 2013, I published a short article about generation loss. This happens when you copy something, then copy the copy over and over again. It can be anything. A YouTube video. A paper document. A gene. The process amplifies flaws inherent to the copying device, degrading the original. But my point was that it doesn’t just degrade. Generation loss brings the original into the uncanny valley. It becomes sinister, disturbing. The reason, I alleged, is because as the original fades, it’s replaced by the “voice” of the copying machine itself.

People talk about our “post-truth” world. What they mean is that the internet delivers the truth you want, so no one can agree on what is true. Coolness, I think, is headed in the same direction. Cool has experienced massive generation loss from being copied repeatedly from prior generations, and we’re entering a post cool world. No one can agree on what’s cool and what isn’t.

Deep Fri…