Why We Like What We Like

We often don't like what we say we like. We come to enjoy things we thought we hated and we are poor at predicting what we will possibly like.

We can't articulate the reasons we prefer one thing over another. We often decide we like something without cause or like something that was subtly suggested.

Any action that entails a choice also entails a preference, for example, what to read, what to wear. We try to find work we like, entertainment we like, people we like.

Behind every preference is a combination of inputs including reasons, hunches, bodily needs, past experiences, unconscious desires, social pressures, and price point.

• Online marketing strategies have become very sophisticated. The Internet uses a huge amount of data collected from clicks to produce a taste fingerprint for every consumer that uses a Web site or app.
• Customer reviewing is lay expertise and not trustworthy. We often find ourselves identifying with one-star hotheads. We want to know if things go wrong, how bad it will be. High number ratings may reflect "positivity bias."

With the Internet, we do not see reality. We're seeing what the algorithms want us to see. We spend half our days in the digital mall without borders doing work and errands.

Digitalization promises to absorb existing technologies, from paper and vinyl to maps, newspapers, cameras, telephones, and lecture halls. With it comes some loss—the three-dimensionality of certain experiences, e.g., acoustic, theatrical, and the palpable such as a book.

The Internet won't replace everything, and one day something else will replace the Internet. Then we will all be used to it, and we will miss it when it's gone.

If taste were not easily changeable and people only liked what they have always liked, we could never develop a taste for something else,

Two factors that influence our taste are social consensus and familiarity. We need time and help to appreciate a work of art.

Art appreciation develops in the same way as other tastes. One person will comment on liking something, and a consensus builds that it is worth liking. Aesthetic appreciation is then supposed to be learned and shared.