> We like to think that we are individuals, but we are much more alike that we wish to admit. There is something missing here. If you have to poll people and

> We like to think that we are individuals, but we are much more alike that we wish to admit. There is something missing here. If you have to poll people and slavishly follow large aggregated preferences in order to show commonality, that really doesn’t prove much commonality. Because you basically asked “what is common?”. Averages are low frequency, low information pass filters. By design. If you ask for averages, don’t be surprised to get little variation. They are not measures of differences in preferences which would show up as variance. High frequency, high density information. Low pass: Everybody likes cats. High pass: [Disclaimer, advance apology, don’t hate me: generated list. I was genuinely interested in what I would get by asking for distinctive culturally specific cat archetypes/icons.) 1. Hello Kitty (Japan, kawaii culture). 2. Maneki-neko (Japan, ceramic beckoning cat). 3. Egyptian Bastet statues (Ancient Egypt, feline goddess). 4. Cheshire Cat (UK, literary folklore from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). 5. Maru the cat (Japan, YouTube sensation, internet meme culture). 6. Lucky Cat figurines (China, feng shui prosperity symbols). 7. Cat-shaped alfeñique candies (Mexico, Day of the Dead crafts). 8. Schrödinger’s cat (Austria, quantum thought experiment symbol). 9. Le Chat Noir posters (France, 19th-century cabaret art). 10. Pusheen the Cat (global, digital sticker and merchandise phenomenon). I could happily spend many an hour going down the rabbit hole for any of these. So much of art and anything aesthetic is culturally distinctive. For instance, Hindu art from India vs. Christian art from Europe, each are highly prevalent phenomenon, and surely demonstrate culturally contrasting artistic preferences.