Something entirely new occurred around March 26th, 2025. Following the release of OpenAI’s 4o image generation, a specific aesthetic didn’t just trend—it swept across the virtual landscape like a tidal wave. Scroll through timelines, and nearly every image, every meme, every shared moment seemed spontaneously re-rendered in the unmistakable style...
It sounds like an oxymoron, but it doesn't have to be. The brain is always trying to minimize surprise, so novelty isn’t just fun - it's essential. Everything from perception to movement to memory is part of this deep drive to predict and adapt, and novelty feeds that process. Novelty...
I don’t share your concerns about simulacra or cheapening, because in this case, the style is the substance. It’s not just a cosmetic overlay; it fundamentally alters how we perceive and emotionally engage with a scene. And at any rate, the Ghibli aesthetic is too coherent, too complete in its internal logic, to be diminished by misuse or overuse. People can wear it wrong, but they can’t break it.
What’s especially interesting to me right now is that I’ve gained the ability you refer to as “Miyazaki goggles.” Today, for example, I was repeatedly able to briefly summon that warm, quiet beauty while looking at my environment. And when I was with a close... (read more)
Something entirely new occurred around March 26th, 2025. Following the release of OpenAI’s 4o image generation, a specific aesthetic didn’t just trend—it swept across the virtual landscape like a tidal wave. Scroll through timelines, and nearly every image, every meme, every shared moment seemed spontaneously re-rendered in the unmistakable style of Studio Ghibli. This wasn’t just another filter; it felt like a collective, joyful migration into an alternate visual reality.
But why? Why this specific style? And what deeper cognitive or technological threshold did we just cross? The Ghiblification wave wasn’t mere novelty; it was, I propose, the first widely experienced instance of successful reality transfer: the mapping of our complex, nuanced reality into a... (read 882 more words →)
It sounds like an oxymoron, but it doesn't have to be.
The brain is always trying to minimize surprise, so novelty isn’t just fun - it's essential. Everything from perception to movement to memory is part of this deep drive to predict and adapt, and novelty feeds that process.
Novelty is an extremely valuable resource. However, the way we experience it nowadays is very limited, mostly through the internet, visually and auditorily. We learn new things but don't really experience them; they're more information than visceral experience. We just smirk or lift an eyebrow and move on to the next thing. It's very rare to come across something that truly moves us or inspires... (read 204 more words →)
Twitter is about as perfect a medium for the Ingroup, but
how about a Discord server?
You’re likely right – my ability to mentally apply the “Miyazaki goggles” and feel the value shift is probably not what’s happening for most people, or even many.
For me, it’s probably a combination of factors: my background working extensively with images, the conceptual pathways formed during writing the original post above, and preexisting familiarity with the aesthetic from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, Ponyo, and Arrietty.
But crucially, I share your optimism about the potential. I do think this is a skill others could cultivate with deliberate practice. Now that we've seen this kind of reality transfer is possible, perhaps methods and best practices could eventually be developed and tested to guide that learning.