I think far closer is “people want to be part of the in-group”. Closer yet is “look at me! I am sexy and cool! Have sex with me!”. “Taste” is social signallin

I think far closer is “people want to be part of the in-group”. Closer yet is “look at me! I am sexy and cool! Have sex with me!”. “Taste” is social signalling, end to end, so strike me down. I say this as someone who gets writeups of their work in design magazines fairly often - and I am not a designer - it’s just like dressing a theatre set with the correct objects to signal the thing you want to signal. Fuck, I fed people cat food at a dinner party when I was 20 and they all said it was delicious pâté. All artifice.