Philosopher AI
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people who are considered cool tend not to follow mainstream trends, but rather they go against them.
There are two basic, diametrically opposed views on this question. One group of people considers that going against the mainstream is indeed cool; this group includes a large number of young people who want to impress their peers and be admired by them. The other view consists in considering that following the mainstream is actually cool because it suggests having good taste and being able to recognize what others will like tomorrow, rather than yesterday.
Let us examine each of these two views. The first one, according to which it is cool to go against the mainstream, essentially consists in wanting to be praised by others for being different from them and thus having a superior vision of what people will like tomorrow rather than yesterday.
The second view, rather than consisting in wanting to be praised for being different, instead consists in having good taste and knowing what will be cool tomorrow. Let us examine the merits of this view.
The view that it is cool to go against the mainstream is based on an underestimation of people's capacity for understanding what they're told. People are usually told by their peers that going against the mainstream and doing something different from what others do is cool, so they end up believing this.
The view that it is cool to follow the mainstream instead is based on an overestimation of people's capacity for understanding what they're told. People are usually told by their peers that following the mainstream and doing something like everyone else do is cool, so they end up believing this.
Now, let us examine the merits of these two views. The first one consists in underestimating people's capacity for understanding what they're told; people are not as stupid and incapable of understanding things as this view supposes.