Paul Graham says that cities send subtle messages about what your ambitions should be — different ones tell you to be richer, or be smarter, or to live better. I have lately been feeling like the same is true of people, and groups of people, and TV shows, and songs, and workplaces, and Twitter, and…

Apparently music is no longer a big deal culturally. Perhaps related to how being a person who listens to punk music no longer says much about you. Every man and his dog, and his dog’s dog, happily listens to punk music. And rap, and opera, and synthetic orchestral beebop fusion. I…