4 ms·

Taste and skill are totally independent. This is not true for things that matter. It's no coincidence that the example he chooses is movies, of all things. Sk

Taste and skill are totally independent. This is not true for things that matter. It's no coincidence that the example he chooses is movies, of all things. Skill is the independent variable. When your skill increases, your taste will increase. It's not more complicated than that. But a lot of people make it more complicated than that because they have an incentive to. Because convincing others that you have "taste" is a very useful skill (ha) in our world. It's how you can position yourself as a leader, manager, critic, etc. without taking the time to develop skill yourself. It's a shortcut. The trick is having to decoupling the two, which this article tries at. I'd take 1 engineer with skill over 100 with "taste" (whatever that means) any day. Taste is a thing, but having taste without skill is a myth.

club_tropical 4y ago
A skilled civil engineer can build you a building that an 80 year old illiterate grandma can recognize accurately as "hideous".
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
MichaelCollins 4y ago
> Taste is a thing, but having taste without skill is a myth. I couldn't disagree more. Having taste but no skill renders the person unable to create tasteful things, but they are still able to recognize beauty when they see it. They may not have the language required to explain why the thing is beautiful, but being unable to explain beauty doesn't mean they lack the perception of beauty.
joseda-hg 4y ago
Taste as in the intuition to appreciate correctness seems to derive from a diferent place than the skill to produce comparable results It's the understanding that generates the taste, and while it can come from experience, it can also come from observation. The example of movie I believe is apt, and also aplies ti art in general and creative work as a whole
sawyna 4y ago
This. I am very uncomfortable working with people who sell their skill of taste. They have big plans and ambitions, but when the real talk comes they fall flat. It's hard to reconcile with them. I see this behaviour in folks who made the shift to management from engineering without improving their skill enough.

club_tropical 4y ago

A skilled civil engineer can build you a building that an 80 year old illiterate grandma can recognize accurately as "hideous".

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

MichaelCollins 4y ago

> Taste is a thing, but having taste without skill is a myth. I couldn't disagree more. Having taste but no skill renders the person unable to create tasteful things, but they are still able to recognize beauty when they see it. They may not have the language required to explain why the thing is beautiful, but being unable to explain beauty doesn't mean they lack the perception of beauty.

joseda-hg 4y ago

Taste as in the intuition to appreciate correctness seems to derive from a diferent place than the skill to produce comparable results It's the understanding that generates the taste, and while it can come from experience, it can also come from observation. The example of movie I believe is apt, and also aplies ti art in general and creative work as a whole

sawyna 4y ago

This. I am very uncomfortable working with people who sell their skill of taste. They have big plans and ambitions, but when the real talk comes they fall flat. It's hard to reconcile with them. I see this behaviour in folks who made the shift to management from engineering without improving their skill enough.