Buckle up – long comment incoming. 3 possible explanations for the problem (which affects me and many other late 20s has-beens too!):
1. The algorithmic bubble is tightening: I don’t have hard data to back this up, but I can’t shake the feeling that the lines of code shaping our taste + media diet are 30x more powerful than they were way back in 2015. The # of friends I have currently fangirling about Ezra Klein’s glowup is uncanny and can only be explained by the fact everyone bought the same freaking New Yorker tote a decade ago and has been slowly compressing down the same user journey rabbit hole ever since. I’ve been meaning to read a book called “The Filter Bubble” to learn more about this but my algorithm has been trained on a lifetime of campy scifi so it hasn’t happened yet…
2. The physical bubble is tightening: If Boulder is anything like Berkeley, living in a (lovely) college town where people share hobbies, politics, and library books quickly creates a (utopian?) echo chamber that can be hard to see until you leave. An unexpected bonus of a life side quest back to Houston has been exposure to a way broader set of people + ideas than I got from 4 years living in CA + Hawaii. Don’t get me wrong, I’d never live in Texas just for the sake of keeping my ‘edge’ – but I’m really enjoying the challenge of making small talk with people who did mutton busting as kids again.
3. You ARE actually just getting older. And therefore, you’re less likely to do stuff that objectively kinda hurts for novelty's sake. At 28, who really wants to sit in a creaky chair listening to a self-important law student recite “Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” in a debate club at 4 AM? I’d rather just sleep.
Some things I (try to) do to keep my ‘edge’: cultivating intergenerational friendships, chatting up the cowboy-boot-wearers, reaching out to people I’ve lost touch with, travelling (but has pitfalls of reproducing the bubble in a different place), buying cheap books just because they look interesting. In an online world where it really does sometimes feel like the algorithms are messing with my free will, I kinda think the only way to really pop the bubble is to turn off the tech and just talk to people – but not after midnight!
This is great Megan. Were you ever in the audience for any of those "Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” recitations? It was my understanding that a certain individual had an affinity for reading it out every year or semester or something...
These are all plausible reasons and good thoughts on how to mitigate them. I'm interested in the intergenerational friendships point not only in trying to cultivate friendships with older people but also younger people. If there's another paradigm-shifting ideology bubbling up a la effective altruism in the 2010s, I do find it's more likely I'd hear about it from an 18 year old than a 60 year old.
I think my biggest concern relates to your #3: does getting older, and becoming more set in your ways, simply mean that some new ideology is far less likely to be paradigm shifting and mind-blowing? Instead, you just find out where and how it fits into how you already think? I know that some people still have life-changing experiences when they're older (finding/losing religion, changing politics, completely changing careers, etc) but surely these things almost necessarily happen more to young people.
Yeah, I was present for one too many readings of "Universal Love" - almost sure they did it every semester, it got old.
Interesting angle to consider #3, hadn't thought about it that way. I've been mostly focused on how as I age I value time / recovery / health differently, so I no longer find myself colliding with as many new ideas serendipitously in places like a heavy-drinking college debate club. I usually prioritize nurturing old friendships vs. meeting new people, reading authors I already know I like, going to bed vs. staying up late for that one-last-paradigm-shifting conversation... taking fewer social and intellectual risks, I guess, because I feel the passage of time more acutely.
I need to noodle on how much of it is being "set in my ways" - I've adjusted my thinking on smaller things like Houston's lack of zoning laws, crypto, and the efficacy of carbon footprinting, but not on anything "big" - I've probably always been, and always will be, an abundance liberal not just because of ideas that friends / places / the algorithm exposed me to but also because of where and how I grew up. Hmm. Time to find some teenagers, I guess!
“I’ve probably always been, and always will be, an abundance liberal”
This is also what I wonder—do we really change or are we just looking for groups and labels that fit into our preexisting beliefs? It’s gotta be a mixture of both, but I’d like to cultivate a milieu that encourages changing your mind if you encounter better ideas.
I’d offer two observations. One is that when you’re young, your job is to search and discover. Find your people, your culture, your vibe, your taste. As you get older, you deeper in those things. Part of that is just because there’s more to manage and do and care about (life is maintenance and there’s simply more to maintain), so you have to choose what you focus on. But part of it is that you’ve found what you care about and you choose to invest in it - because that’s more rewarding than the risk of frivolous discovery. As the saying goes: “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” It’s that dynamic at play.
The second. Redefine edge. Listening to this song now, it strikes me that this is a very young man’s take on what “edge” is. Sure, I had an edge when I went to illegal warehouse parties in chicago. But now, my edge is being able to negotiate massive contracts or advocate for teammates or have the kind of nuanced, thoughtful conversation I could have never had at that edge. So rather than think you’re losing it (which, you’re 28 - I promise you you aren’t), recast it - and I promise you’ll have newer, sharper, different edges you’d never contemplated before.
As you said, as you find your people/culture/vibe, it's good that you reduce the amount of searching you're doing. It's the classic explore/exploit dilemma in action.
Redefining edge feels like the right answer to the dilemma, especially when you take into account the context that this song launched James Murphy's (now extremely successful) career. There's a delicious irony in your debut single being about how washed up you are.
If AI does usher in post-scarcity luxury space communism then I guess the kids were right to focus on it. If it ushers in techno-fascist authoritarianism or the end of days they also would have been right, although in a real bummer sense of the word.
Happy early birthday. I assume there will be a follow-up predicting who you will be in 10-15 years and whether you'll have lost your edge? (Imagine that Tyler Cowen didn't start blogging until he was in his 40s!)
Well fortunately the song is "Losing My Edge" not "Lost My Edge". I have some time yet with a dulled, yet still sharp enough, edge to keep up with the kids. Still working on the 15-year prediction!
I was there, am there and going to be there Ole Buddy!
“The future is now, old man” - Dewey
Old man'ing me with a Malcolm in the Middle reference! The irony!
hahahaha touché
Here’s a good line from a legendary sportsballer for you: “Don't look back, something might be gaining on you" - Satchel Page
Oh, and I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
Oh yeah, well, I was there. I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988 (I was doing drugs). I was there!
Buckle up – long comment incoming. 3 possible explanations for the problem (which affects me and many other late 20s has-beens too!):
1. The algorithmic bubble is tightening: I don’t have hard data to back this up, but I can’t shake the feeling that the lines of code shaping our taste + media diet are 30x more powerful than they were way back in 2015. The # of friends I have currently fangirling about Ezra Klein’s glowup is uncanny and can only be explained by the fact everyone bought the same freaking New Yorker tote a decade ago and has been slowly compressing down the same user journey rabbit hole ever since. I’ve been meaning to read a book called “The Filter Bubble” to learn more about this but my algorithm has been trained on a lifetime of campy scifi so it hasn’t happened yet…
2. The physical bubble is tightening: If Boulder is anything like Berkeley, living in a (lovely) college town where people share hobbies, politics, and library books quickly creates a (utopian?) echo chamber that can be hard to see until you leave. An unexpected bonus of a life side quest back to Houston has been exposure to a way broader set of people + ideas than I got from 4 years living in CA + Hawaii. Don’t get me wrong, I’d never live in Texas just for the sake of keeping my ‘edge’ – but I’m really enjoying the challenge of making small talk with people who did mutton busting as kids again.
3. You ARE actually just getting older. And therefore, you’re less likely to do stuff that objectively kinda hurts for novelty's sake. At 28, who really wants to sit in a creaky chair listening to a self-important law student recite “Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” in a debate club at 4 AM? I’d rather just sleep.
Some things I (try to) do to keep my ‘edge’: cultivating intergenerational friendships, chatting up the cowboy-boot-wearers, reaching out to people I’ve lost touch with, travelling (but has pitfalls of reproducing the bubble in a different place), buying cheap books just because they look interesting. In an online world where it really does sometimes feel like the algorithms are messing with my free will, I kinda think the only way to really pop the bubble is to turn off the tech and just talk to people – but not after midnight!
Enjoyed this one!
This is great Megan. Were you ever in the audience for any of those "Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” recitations? It was my understanding that a certain individual had an affinity for reading it out every year or semester or something...
These are all plausible reasons and good thoughts on how to mitigate them. I'm interested in the intergenerational friendships point not only in trying to cultivate friendships with older people but also younger people. If there's another paradigm-shifting ideology bubbling up a la effective altruism in the 2010s, I do find it's more likely I'd hear about it from an 18 year old than a 60 year old.
I think my biggest concern relates to your #3: does getting older, and becoming more set in your ways, simply mean that some new ideology is far less likely to be paradigm shifting and mind-blowing? Instead, you just find out where and how it fits into how you already think? I know that some people still have life-changing experiences when they're older (finding/losing religion, changing politics, completely changing careers, etc) but surely these things almost necessarily happen more to young people.
Yeah, I was present for one too many readings of "Universal Love" - almost sure they did it every semester, it got old.
Interesting angle to consider #3, hadn't thought about it that way. I've been mostly focused on how as I age I value time / recovery / health differently, so I no longer find myself colliding with as many new ideas serendipitously in places like a heavy-drinking college debate club. I usually prioritize nurturing old friendships vs. meeting new people, reading authors I already know I like, going to bed vs. staying up late for that one-last-paradigm-shifting conversation... taking fewer social and intellectual risks, I guess, because I feel the passage of time more acutely.
I need to noodle on how much of it is being "set in my ways" - I've adjusted my thinking on smaller things like Houston's lack of zoning laws, crypto, and the efficacy of carbon footprinting, but not on anything "big" - I've probably always been, and always will be, an abundance liberal not just because of ideas that friends / places / the algorithm exposed me to but also because of where and how I grew up. Hmm. Time to find some teenagers, I guess!
“I’ve probably always been, and always will be, an abundance liberal”
This is also what I wonder—do we really change or are we just looking for groups and labels that fit into our preexisting beliefs? It’s gotta be a mixture of both, but I’d like to cultivate a milieu that encourages changing your mind if you encounter better ideas.
Your thread was as compelling as Michael’s story! Love your perspectives here Megan
Hey, I'm just piggybacking on a thought-provoking piece here!
I’d offer two observations. One is that when you’re young, your job is to search and discover. Find your people, your culture, your vibe, your taste. As you get older, you deeper in those things. Part of that is just because there’s more to manage and do and care about (life is maintenance and there’s simply more to maintain), so you have to choose what you focus on. But part of it is that you’ve found what you care about and you choose to invest in it - because that’s more rewarding than the risk of frivolous discovery. As the saying goes: “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” It’s that dynamic at play.
The second. Redefine edge. Listening to this song now, it strikes me that this is a very young man’s take on what “edge” is. Sure, I had an edge when I went to illegal warehouse parties in chicago. But now, my edge is being able to negotiate massive contracts or advocate for teammates or have the kind of nuanced, thoughtful conversation I could have never had at that edge. So rather than think you’re losing it (which, you’re 28 - I promise you you aren’t), recast it - and I promise you’ll have newer, sharper, different edges you’d never contemplated before.
HBD, man. 🦧
As you said, as you find your people/culture/vibe, it's good that you reduce the amount of searching you're doing. It's the classic explore/exploit dilemma in action.
Redefining edge feels like the right answer to the dilemma, especially when you take into account the context that this song launched James Murphy's (now extremely successful) career. There's a delicious irony in your debut single being about how washed up you are.
Thanks for the thoughts Kent!
Unfortunately the kids are up to AI and AI only
If AI does usher in post-scarcity luxury space communism then I guess the kids were right to focus on it. If it ushers in techno-fascist authoritarianism or the end of days they also would have been right, although in a real bummer sense of the word.
Happy early birthday. I assume there will be a follow-up predicting who you will be in 10-15 years and whether you'll have lost your edge? (Imagine that Tyler Cowen didn't start blogging until he was in his 40s!)
Well fortunately the song is "Losing My Edge" not "Lost My Edge". I have some time yet with a dulled, yet still sharp enough, edge to keep up with the kids. Still working on the 15-year prediction!
Or maybe we came of age at peak cognitive capacity and it’s all Idiocracy from here?
https://archive.ph/2025.03.19-050213/https://www.ft.com/content/a8016c64-63b7-458b-a371-e0e1c54a13fc
That article is good motivation to continue existing in the textual world rather than the visual media world.