Infinite Loops

Adam Mastroianni - Why Creativity Feels Like It's Dying (Ep. 306)

60 snips
Mar 19, 2026
Adam Mastroianni, experimental psychologist and cultural critic, explores why creativity feels like it is fading. He discusses rising cultural sameness, the decline of deviant risk-taking, and how prosperity and the internet reshape innovation. He proposes small, rule-light institutions like 'science houses' and practical ways for outsiders to do and replicate science.
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INSIGHT

Internet Amplifies And Dampens Cultural Variants

  • The internet both fragments audiences and flattens cultural inputs, producing tailored niches yet shared mainstream touchpoints that homogenize outputs.
  • Adam notes everyone now knows big stars like Taylor Swift, reducing isolated regional cultures.
ADVICE

Create Science Houses To Train Weird Science

  • Build small, non‑institutional science houses where apprentices learn by doing outside PhD incentives.
  • Adam ran a prototype: residents publish directly online, avoid journal/tenure incentives, and train new research cultures.
ADVICE

Start Doing Science Today With Replication And Virtues

  • To start practicing science outside academia, read the Slime Mold Time Mold piece on scientific virtues and adopt virtues like stupidity, humor, and rebellion.
  • Then replicate an existing empirical project and post results online to join the community.
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