Good Taste vs. Slop: What Makes The Difference? — Transcript

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1. 0:00The two words that are thrown around
2. 0:01constantly, taste and slop.
3. 0:05And I'm fascinated by these two words
4. 0:07and how little discussion there is
5. 0:08around these two words. And taste in
6. 0:10particular
7. 0:12is a word that you can just you can say
8. 0:14and I get to I get to say how high
9. 0:16status I am by going the thing that's
10. 0:17really important in 2026 is taste and
11. 0:20you [ __ ] peasant don't have any
12. 0:21[ __ ] taste. Um and slop's like the
13. 0:24inverse of that where somebody can just
14. 0:26say the word slop now with no definition
15. 0:29of what why they mean slop. It's kind of
16. 0:32like in a
17. 0:33less emotionally charged way but like
18. 0:35the word racist or sexist that you can
19. 0:37just throw it around now. You can throw
20. 0:38it around willy-nilly. You can bandy it
21. 0:40around the office willy-nilly. Um and
22. 0:42nobody knows exactly what it is. And
23. 0:44there's a great essay um George Orwell's
24. 0:46politics and the English language. And
25. 0:48he talks about how there's these new
26. 0:49turns of phrase like as a writer you can
27. 0:51just put in there at the end of the day
28. 0:54or just turns of phrase which can just
29. 0:56signal that I think people will like
30. 0:58this.
31. 0:59>> Right.
32. 0:59>> And I can seem smart but there's no
33. 1:01depth to this at all. And I'm fascinated
34. 1:03by cuz Jack you're somebody who I'd say
35. 1:05has like what people would describe as
36. 1:06taste. But I've been fascinated by how
37. 1:08do you actually develop that muscle? And
38. 1:11there's a wonderful exercise I got from
39. 1:13my friend Billy where it's like it's
40. 1:15always very simple. Billy Oppenheimer.
41. 1:17And he has this thing called um what I
42. 1:20like about what I like where whenever he
43. 1:23sees something that he likes he will
44. 1:25just capture it, put in his phone, and
45. 1:27then
46. 1:28try and explain to himself why he likes
47. 1:31it.
48. 1:31>> Mhm.
49. 1:31>> And then I created a what I dislike
50. 1:34about what I dislike. And then when I
51. 1:35see something I don't like I'll capture
52. 1:38it and write it down. And then you also
53. 1:40have like a little swipe file to go
54. 1:42through when you're doing it. But I'm
55. 1:43just fascinated by right now these two
56. 1:45words in particular that everybody's
57. 1:47using them and nobody defines it.
58. 1:49>> Mhm.
59. 1:50Can you find um there's a quote by Ira
60. 1:52Glass? It's like if if you put Ira Glass
61. 1:54taste
62. 1:55>> Taste gap I think it's called.
63. 1:57>> Taste gap is like a one paragraph
64. 1:58definition of like having taste means
65. 2:01you will always be dissatisfied with
66. 2:03what you produce.
67. 2:04>> Huh.
68. 2:04>> Mhm. This quote is from the American
69. 2:06author Ira Glass. Nobody tells this to
70. 2:08people who are beginners. I wish someone
71. 2:09told me. All of us who do creative work,
72. 2:11we get into it because we have good
73. 2:13taste, but there is this gap. For the
74. 2:15first couple of years, you make stuff.
75. 2:16It's just not that good. It's trying to
76. 2:18be good. It has potential, but it's not.
77. 2:20But your taste, the thing that got you
78. 2:22into the game is still killer. And your
79. 2:24taste is why your work disappoints you.
80. 2:26A lot of people never get past this
81. 2:27phase. They quit. Most people I know who
82. 2:29do interesting creative work went
83. 2:31through years of this. We know our work
84. 2:32doesn't have this special thing that we
85. 2:34wanted to have. We go through this. And
86. 2:37if you are just starting out, or if you
87. 2:39are still in this phase, you got to know
88. 2:40it's normal and the most important thing
89. 2:42you can do is do a lot of work. Put
90. 2:44yourself on a deadline so that every
91. 2:45week you will finish one story. It is
92. 2:47only by going through a volume of work
93. 2:49that you will close that gap and your
94. 2:51work will be as good as your ambitions.
95. 2:53And I took too long to figure out how to
96. 2:54do this than anyone I've ever met. It's
97. 2:57going to take a while. It's normal to
98. 2:58take a while. You just got to fight your
99. 3:00way through it.
100. 3:03>> Damn. Bang.
101. 3:05>> There is ship it what's the I I can't
102. 3:07remember I think it was Shane Parrish
103. 3:08who said um like
104. 3:10um maybe Tiago Forte like
105. 3:13procrastination is bad because it stops
106. 3:16you from doing stuff, but it's mostly
107. 3:17bad because it stops you from shipping
108. 3:19work at a volume sufficiently enough to
109. 3:22work out what works.
110. 3:23>> Mhm.
111. 3:24>> Like if you don't ever put It's your
112. 3:25thing about I'd rather be high
113. 3:26conviction and wrong than low conviction
114. 3:28and right.
115. 3:28>> rather be um I'd rather be an idiot than
116. 3:30a coward.
117. 3:31>> Yeah.
118. 3:32>> Yeah.
119. 3:32>> Yeah, because if you don't ever put
120. 3:34stuff out, or if you only put stuff out
121. 3:35when you know that it's going to work,
122. 3:36you haven't actually learned all that
123. 3:38much. Like learning a lot means, okay,
124. 3:40I've got a big sample set. I've thrown a
125. 3:42lot of stuff out. But the I mean the
126. 3:43shortest thing, at least for me, like
127. 3:44taste is the ability to discern between
128. 3:46good and not good.
129. 3:47>> Right.
130. 3:48>> And yeah, I would like I would pair up
131. 3:50the slop comment with basically you're
132. 3:52outsourcing taste. I think that's what
133. 3:54people are trying to refer to when they
134. 3:57use the word slop. It's like there is
135. 4:00a lacking intention in the output, and a
136. 4:02lot of people think that that is like if
137. 4:04any
138. 4:05tool that has like
139. 4:08an incredible amount of power was used,
140. 4:10you're giving up some agency. And that I
141. 4:12think that's like the
142. 4:13>> Done without taste. Slop is done without
143. 4:15taste.
144. 4:16>> And and like the way that these things
145. 4:17are trained is like the clawed there's
146. 4:19like textbook like little marks on there
147. 4:22that if you did not guide this with a
148. 4:24certain amount of intention, it's just
149. 4:26going to show up every time.
150. 4:27>> And my my like rebuttal of the next
151. 4:29level that I think exists is that's
152. 4:31fine. And to say slop when you see slop
153. 4:33is fine, but that is slop. So, you just
154. 4:36I just call that slop slop.
155. 4:37>> Yeah.
156. 4:38>> So, if you're going to say slop
157. 4:39>> is also unoriginal.
158. 4:40>> If you're going to say slop, tell me
159. 4:42why.
160. 4:43>> Yeah.
161. 4:43>> Explain to
162. 4:44>> What's on your list? You said you have a
163. 4:45list now of like things that why I
164. 4:46dislike what I dislike or why
165. 4:48>> Let me pull it up. Hold on, 1 second.
166. 4:50It's interesting around the uh
167. 4:53this is seen as low effort cuz that John
168. 4:55Mark uh guy
169. 4:57>> Mhm.
170. 4:57>> broke the [ __ ] internet. The first
171. 5:00one of him where he's shadowboxing, and
172. 5:02he's just like he's sort of doing like a
173. 5:03little dance.
174. 5:04>> Amazing.
175. 5:05>> But
176. 5:06everyone was completely mystified by
177. 5:09this guy. Like there's so much aura
178. 5:11>> until you found out it was AI. So, that
179. 5:13Okay, so
180. 5:15there's something the same thing but
181. 5:17finding out I mean, if you watch Hoog or
182. 5:19Fun or any of these big explainer
183. 5:21YouTube channels. I love their
184. 5:23documentaries. I think that they're
185. 5:24great. They put a disclaimer at the very
186. 5:26start that says all of our information
187. 5:28is done by humans.
188. 5:29>> Mhm.
189. 5:30>> Because they need to show effort up
190. 5:32front because the gap in terms of output
191. 5:35like finished article is
192. 5:38difficult to determine for us. So, what
193. 5:40I have to do is basically say even if
194. 5:42you can't tell, the proof of work is
195. 5:44there to show that we put a lot of
196. 5:46effort into making this. Did I send you
197. 5:48the Gossip Goblin thing?
198. 5:49>> The Love Island thing?
199. 5:51>> No, go on. Can you find Gossip Goblin on
200. 5:53on uh
201. 5:54Instagram?
202. 5:55>> name. What is it?
203. 5:57>> This is like AI film, and it's like
204. 6:01you're not going to mistake it for not
205. 6:02being AI film, but the level of craft is
206. 6:04absolutely unbelievable.
207. 6:06>> Right.
208. 6:07>> And
209. 6:07>> So they're they're taking something that
210. 6:09people would typically see as low effort
211. 6:11and slop, but pushing it to its absolute
212. 6:13limit.
213. 6:13>> And I would say they're putting in like
214. 6:15a level of effort in the production that
215. 6:17you would associate with like
216. 6:18any kind of like ST uh Hollywood
217. 6:21production studio. You'll see in these
218. 6:23outputs like
219. 6:24>> So like, what kind of birds are you
220. 6:26into, love? You like them more sexy and
221. 6:27stuff?
222. 6:28>> Um uh I I Well, all types, yeah. I love
223. 6:30all birds girls, but um yeah, if I had
224. 6:32to pick, I'd say I like the pretty ones
225. 6:34when they're looking all sexy and stuff.
226. 6:35>> Aw, you calling me fit. You're so sweet.
227. 6:37>> Fonzie, you nasty slag. How could you?
228. 6:40Gorbo's my man.
229. 6:42>> Welcome to Lovers'Lagoon.
230. 6:43>> Welcome.
231. 6:44>> It's where Neo Cradle's finest,
232. 6:46flirtiest, and feistiest singles fight,
233. 6:49fornicate, and find love.
234. 6:52So come on and take your hand out of
235. 6:53your pants, and let's go meet the cast.
236. 6:57>> Been a rough year, not going to lie. Me
237. 6:59hairline wobbled, my corners have gotten
238. 7:01and lagooning got bad,
239. 7:03real bad.
240. 7:05But I've locked in now, and I'm ready to
241. 7:07stop just the maxing and start mogging,
242. 7:08bruv.
243. 7:09>> I'm a proper gent. I treat every bird
244. 7:11like a princess, and her father like an
245. 7:13absolute king. Manners cost nothing,
246. 7:16sweetheart.
247. 7:17>> it's even got
248. 7:18>> say I'm full of myself, but I'm the
249. 7:20fittest sort here, aren't I?
250. 7:22It's just maths, isn't it?
251. 7:25>> Don't know, really.
252. 7:28Nice villa, though, yeah?
253. 7:30>> I'm a romantic, I am. When a fellow
254. 7:32pulls out a chair for me, or opens a
255. 7:34door,
256. 7:35boom, me fanny flutters, and I'm already
257. 7:38planning our babies' names, yeah?
258. 7:39>> What's crazy is this is such a strong
259. 7:42like
260. 7:44Except for him. I was about to say
261. 7:46Well, I was about to say was um the
262. 7:49ability to distill
263. 7:51uh stereotypes. Like British stere-Each
264. 7:54of those is an archetype that exists. Uh
265. 7:58but yeah, I mean
266. 8:00I don't know. Are people ever going to
267. 8:01say this is AI? This is something which
268. 8:03is typically low effort, but you've done
269. 8:05it in a way which is high effort,
270. 8:07therefore I'm going to give you I think
271. 8:10there's so much ick around AI generally
272. 8:11that you're never really going to no
273. 8:13matter how good you
274. 8:14>> short term.
275. 8:14>> Yeah, I just I agree.
276. 8:16>> I think there will be always like the
277. 8:17new organic or free range is like
278. 8:21handmade is you know it's human made
279. 8:23basically. They're going to There's
280. 8:24going to be a word for this like you
281. 8:25know I think Rory was talking about how
282. 8:27like horsepower became a phrase because
283. 8:30they needed to describe the speed of
284. 8:31something and they could only describe
285. 8:32it relative to
286. 8:33>> in the units of something previous.
287. 8:35>> And and horsepower was needed and like I
288. 8:37think the AI industry needs its version
289. 8:39of horsepower. It's like it needs to
290. 8:41>> It needs its prediction markets.
291. 8:43>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
292. 8:44Because it's like these E valves are
293. 8:45also complicated. Nobody knows what the
294. 8:47hell how much one's better or not.
295. 8:48>> what the new
296. 8:49>> It should just be IQ, right? They need
297. 8:50to come up with an number that's like we
298. 8:52got 99, they have 98.
299. 8:54>> Supreme intelligence. You see the poll.
300. 8:56Oh, no. Trump poll.
301. 8:57>> Oh, no, yeah, the rebrand. Oh, yeah,
302. 8:58he's trying.
303. 8:59>> He's trying, but I don't
304. 8:59>> He's ahead of the game. I said vote.
305. 9:01>> Oh, yeah, he was trying to name it
306. 9:03something else in supreme intelligence.
307. 9:05>> Beam was one and then the other one was
308. 9:07um
309. 9:09I can't remember. He wanted to call it
310. 9:10ASI, but the problem is that ASI means
311. 9:12artificial super intelligence, which is
312. 9:14the thing that everyone's worried about.
313. 9:15>> Yeah, it wasn't super. It was It was
314. 9:17supreme and then it was like superior. I
315. 9:19forget, but there's like three words
316. 9:21artificial.
317. 9:22>> I think the big thing is the artificial.
318. 9:24>> Yeah.
319. 9:24>> Which makes sense. It's not the best
320. 9:25branding.
321. 9:26>> he knows his branding, yeah.
322. 9:27>> Yeah.
323. 9:28>> Interesting. What was your list?
324. 9:29>> Um my thing is not working. Carry on
325. 9:31without me.
326. 9:31>> Machine intelligence was another one
327. 9:33that I've like but again that has the
328. 9:35like we're getting replaced.
329. 9:37>> What's this? Here's a
330. 9:41>> It's not a gram.
331. 9:43New pickle.
332. 9:45What do you think?
333. 9:47>> Woohoo.
334. 9:48>> Very nice.
335. 9:50Look at that. Picked them up from the
336. 9:52deli yesterday. Good coloring. That's
337. 9:54dill.
338. 9:56And the brine is something called
339. 9:57mustard seed.
340. 9:58>> It's very cool, Bateman, but that's
341. 10:00nothing.
342. 10:01Look at this.
343. 10:02>> That is really nice.
344. 10:05>> Half sour with garlic brine.
345. 10:09What do you think?
346. 10:11>> Nice.
347. 10:12>> Jesus.
348. 10:14That is really super. How did an nitwit
349. 10:15like you get so tasteful?
350. 10:18>> I can't believe that Bryce prefers Van
351. 10:20Patten's pickle to mine.
352. 10:22>> Well, wait.
353. 10:24You ain't seen nothing yet.
354. 10:27>> Barrel cured.
355. 10:29Whole peppercorn.
356. 10:32Extra crisp.
357. 10:33>> Impressive.
358. 10:35Very nice.
359. 10:36>> Mhm.
360. 10:38>> Let's see Paul Allen's pickle.
361. 10:47>> I want to know how they put the pickles
362. 10:48away.
363. 10:54>> Look at that subtle olive coloring.
364. 10:57The tasteful thickness of it.
365. 10:59Oh my god.
366. 11:00It even has little bumps.
367. 11:07>> Something wrong?
368. 11:08Patrick?
369. 11:09You're sweating.
370. 11:11>> Jesus [ __ ]
371. 11:14Yeah.
372. 11:15It is over. It is so It is so close to
373. 11:17being over.
374. 11:18A quick note, lots of people tell us
375. 11:20that YouTube unsubscribes them from the
376. 11:21channel even though they already pressed
377. 11:23it. So, just check down there and see if
378. 11:25the subscribe button is pressed. You get
379. 11:27access to episodes before anybody else
380. 11:29if you do, supports me and the show,
381. 11:30helps me to bring you bigger and better
382. 11:32guests, uh and it makes me very happy.
383. 11:33So, just go and give it a tap for me. I
384. 11:35thank you.
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