🎨Is Your taste in art yours? or is it the algorithm's.
Details
🎨🤖 Your Taste Isn't Yours Anymore — Hume vs. the Algorithm
You think you chose your favorites. But did you?
Discussion only - short essay night (David Hume: "Of the Standard of Taste").
Short summary
AI can generate "good-looking" images in seconds. Your feed already decides what you see. So when you say "I like this" — how much of that is actually you?
Tonight we're using David Hume's Of the Standard of Taste as the backbone because he refuses the lazy answer "it's all subjective, who cares." He thinks some judgments really are better than others - but not for snobby reasons.
Then we drag it into 2026: algorithms, AI art, "prompting" as creativity, and whether your taste is being quietly rented back to you.
Come even if you haven't read Hume in years - this will be examples-first, not philosophy cosplay.
What we'll explore
- Be honest - have you ever pretended to like something because you felt you should? (Taste as status, not taste as truth.)
- When you say "I like it," what are you actually praising? The look? the skill? the intention? the story behind it? the feeling it gives you?
- If AI can generate infinite "masterpieces," does greatness get cheaper… or does it reveal what you really value? Like… would you hang it on your wall? Would you brag about it? Why or why not?
- Hume says some people are better judges because they've trained their taste. Is that wisdom… or just gatekeeping with polite language? What's the difference?
- Who is training your taste right now - your friends, critics, or your feed? When Apple/Spotify/Netflix/Instagram serves you "For You," is that your taste… or their business model?
- If everyone lives in a personalized feed, is "shared culture" already dead? Does "classic" just mean "the algorithm kept showing it to enough people"?
Reading
David Hume - "Of the Standard of Taste" (short essay). Here is the link to a modern - easy to read version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sazM7Ad8WOL8_3m-CZRY-ORO294i-GIrb-seVNW3LcM/edit?usp=share_link
When and where
🗓️ Sunday, February 22, 2026 🕒 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
📍 Central Library - Meeting Rooms - L4 North (492) Meeting Room