Originality Dies When Being Average Is Easier

So much writing is boring now, and juiceless. There used to be a kind of charm to even the worst writing, because it came from someone just as flawed as you. Now, everything is airbrushed and edited so that we no longer see the real face of things. We see a tiny little snippet of humanity drowning in a sea of inescapable averageness.

Contemporary writing often feels stripped of vibrancy. Where once even flawed works carried a unique authenticity—reflecting the human imperfections of their authors—today’s writing is so finely polished that it loses its soul. What remains is a trace of personality, overshadowed by an overwhelming sameness.

Style is no longer cool. What’s cool is AI-enabled B2B SaaS. What’s cool is TikTok dancing and viral media content. What’s cool is one billion followers.

This shift reflects broader cultural changes. Style and originality have been replaced by a focus on mass appeal. Success today is defined by AI-powered business tools, viral content, and enormous follower counts. Creativity has taken a backseat to scalability, where numbers, not ideas, drive value.

Form no longer matters. If you appear intelligent, you are. After all, do you even exist without the consensus of others?

Form has similarly declined in importance. As long as one can appear intelligent, that appearance is often enough to be accepted as reality. In this era of perception over substance, does individuality hold meaning if it isn’t validated by the masses?

Communication destroys all originality. But can individuals accomplish anything? No man is an island, nothing is done alone. An individual is dangerous. A collective is inclusive and welcoming. Do you only appreciate the kind of genius that you agree with? Good!

While communication is essential for progress, it also dilutes the potential for truly original thought. Yet, isolation is no longer seen as productive. Collaboration is celebrated, while the individual is often viewed as a threat to inclusivity. We seem to reserve our appreciation only for the types of genius we already understand and agree with.

The easier it is to be average, to write average things, to think average thoughts, the more we kill the kind of person that cared to be original. Before, originality would stand out, because it was too hard to produce something that wasn’t original. Now, it’s easier to sound the same as everyone else. So easy, that an average person could write a book in their sleep.

The easier it becomes to produce average work, the more we lose the individuals who once pushed for something original. In the past, standing out required genuine effort because mediocrity wasn’t as easily achieved. Today, even the unremarkable can be amplified and widely accepted.

Be original, even if you are unfamiliar and rough. Don’t polish yourself. That’s how you die.

To preserve originality, we must resist the urge to over-polish. Refinement for the sake of conformity risks suffocating creativity, leaving only the most conventional ideas to thrive. Originality, even when imperfect, is what keeps innovation alive.