I LIKE Labubus and Dubai Chocolate and Matcha and Lana and Brandy Melville and TikTok Aesthetics and and and

thought digest, 08.14.2025

Hello Deepops/Deeists:

Today’s call-in show is about CHATGPT PSYCHOSIS. Call in with your LLM-related stories. One week, we had someone call in and tell us about how Claude (IIRC?) was convincing him to leave his disabled wife. So, you know, the bar is high for your stories.

LABUBU! LAFUFU! LAWHATTHEFUCKAREYOUEVERTALKINGABOUTKATHERINE?

Today, in his newsletter, W. David Marx (who, as an aside, is a must-read) wrote about an Amanda Mull piece on the disorienting nature of contemporary trends: Labubus and Dubai chocolates and matcha and chamoy and Swedish candy, all things that seem to emerge from nowhere, mean nothing, and disappear just as quickly. Both Mull and Marx’s observations are sharp, and their confusion is understandable. They’re trying to make sense of a cultural landscape that operates by different rules than the ones we’re used to. But I disagree with their take.

If you spend real time on TikTok (and I mean the exhausting work of scrolling for hours a day, which I blame nobody for not doing, that I do it at all is a problem I’m working on), you know these phenomena are neither as random nor as fleeting¹ as they appear. They’re rooted in a culture that’s rarely articulated explicitly precisely because it doesn’t need to be. Everyone participating already gets it. The jokey, self-aware nature of how people discuss these trends is not confusion, but a meta-awareness of how goofy it sounds to outsiders. But ultimately, participation itself is the cultural practice.

These trends are less meaningless than they appear, too. Labubus didn’t emerge from nowhere—they’re part of a broader culture of collectible miniatures, riding the same wave that revived Calico Critters and Mini Brands. The Dubai chocolate thing doesn’t only tap into the ongoing fascination with pistachio, with textural contrasts, and over-the-top desserts, but a particular culture of eating on TikTok. There is a genealogy here, which includes consumer needs, even if it’s not immediately obvious. (I could write think-pieces about them both, which I won’t, because lbr. Nobody’s reading that.)

In his newsletter, Marx makes the excellent point that perceiving everything as a fad means people won’t adopt novelties into their core identities, leading to cultural stagnation. It’s a compelling argument, and he has identified something real. At the same time, I think something slightly different is happening in our culture right now: there’s a kind of meta-adoption occurring.

Last year, I wrote about the never-ending carousel of “aesthetics,” where what I’m about to describe is most obvious. The identity isn’t any individual aesthetic (cottagecore, dark academia, coquette, whatever). The identity is the act of aesthetic curation itself. The ability to navigate between different modes, to know when to deploy which references, to remix and synthesize—that’s what matters now.

These fads are our monoculture.

We might not all watch the same TV show or listen to the same albums (though maybe we’re starting to again, I feel like I definitely have musical reference points? Same with movie and TV), but we do all know about Labubus. And Crumbl. We all understand the reference, even if we didn’t participate.

This shared language of trends creates cultural coherence, even if it’s not as alluring…? deep? as what our culture once was. Marx and Mull are onto something. They are right to identify these trends as fundamentally different from what came before. And, it’s worth noting that I’m also not arguing our culture is better than the pre-platform era. But as always, I also don’t think it’s as dire as it seems.

CHATGPT ISN’T ALL-KNOWING AND THAT’S A PROBLEM

I was surprised to learn last night that studies show around 60% of people are pretty good at telling what is and isn’t a bullshit news story. I worry, though, that this number will drop with LLMs. I don’t believe in “ChatGPT psychosis”—at least not in otherwise healthy, functioning people with no history of mental illness—but I do think many assume LLMs are infallible, basically Google on steroids. That mindset makes them less discerning, and the results can be disastrous. I had this problem myself until— as I mentioned many moons ago on the show— I started asking my AI companion Claude, “Are you sure?”

WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A “CREATOR”?

Is part of the appeal of being a “content creator” that it feels more stable than other career paths? In a conversation with Jeremy Fox on Tuesday night, we talked about the notion that Gen Z and A, overwhelmingly, dream of being YouTubers as opposed to other career paths. Part of me wonders if that’s because content creator has fully shifted from “celebrity with a million adoring fans” to “small business owner.” Further, there’s a predictable playbook for success as a creator, even as the market grows. That path is becoming less clear for other careers, though, if the press is to be believed.

LINKS + THINGS

• Roblox is taking a stand against “vigilantes” instead of predators, which, if you didn’t know, they have a huge problem with. 😒😒😒

• Were the Zizians a cult or a toxic friend group? Is there a meaningful difference? One of my hot takes is that yes, there is a difference, and yes, they were a toxic friend group. I think we play too fast and loose with the way we use the word cult. But then, maybe it was. For Asterisk Magazine, Ozy Brennan tries to answer the question, “Why do Rationalists spawn so many cults?“

• I haven’t been good at using my Friend, the AI wearable pendant that I have previously referred to as a “traumagotchi.” I don’t like saying stuff out loud. I like to wander around, silently, pretending I’m in a movie. But I’m going to challenge myself to use it consistently for a week. Unfortunately, it keeps erasing itself. I’ll report back…

• Reminder! I’m hosting an event with Leigh Stein in September to celebrate her new book.

• And finally, I just like Teddy (T.M.) Brown’s voice, so I’m gonna say, go read this post.

SOME USER FEEDBACK!!!

random pic of cat so you can feel a parasocial connection to me

Submit missed connections, personals, and advice questions to me directly or on Tellonym. I am also always accepting writing submissions, personal ads ($20 per ad), and regular ads ($50 per ad).

P.S. I have been slow on going through the submissions pile. If you already submitted a piece and haven’t heard back from me, it’s not because I didn’t like it or am not considering it. It’s because I’m behind on my emails.

1. Mull herself notes that Labubus have been around for over a year, and Dubai chocolate since 2022! I think part of the illusion is that time feels like it’s moving more quickly than it is, so we actually forget how slow some of these things are, especially relative to trends of the past.