If you think all hipsters look alike, well you may not be far off. Now there’s scientific research to back up your intuition. Jonathan Touboul at Brandeis University studies how transmission of information throughout a culture may impact those in the culture. Specifically, he created a mathematical model to show how our desire to be unique and non-conformist may actually drive us to conform with the rest of the non-conformists. Follow that?
This simple model generates some fantastically complex behaviors. In general, Touboul says, the population of hipsters initially act randomly but then undergo a phase transition into a synchronized state. He finds that this happens for a wide range of parameters but that the behavior can become extremely complex, depending on the way hipsters interact with conformists.
from MIT Technology Review
It’s interesting research and has applications far beyond consumers of avocado toast. It could theoretically be applied to financial markets and how groups might either long or short a stock. Or perhaps applied to political thought and the insurgency of fringe elements in conservative and liberal parties.
UPDATE: This story gets even better
Turns out MIT Technology Review received an angry letter from a man claiming to be the person in the photograph that ran at the top of the story:
“You used a heavily edited Getty image of me for your recent bit of clickbait about why hipsters all look the same. It’s a poorly written and insulting article, and — somewhat ironically — about 5 years too late to be as desperately relevant as it is attempting to be, by using a tired cultural trope to try to spruce up an otherwise disturbing study.”
from The Washington Post
Yikes. Angry hipster indeed. Only problem is: that isn’t his picture. He just happens to really look a lot like the guy in the image. The irony is delicious.
