publius_

You are joking, right?

How do you know what a PhD is telling you is truth?

Unlike the PhD, the AI model has benchmark scores on truthfulness. Right now, they're looking pretty good.

I fail to see how furries are culturally important. Please enlighten me

This is post-modernity. Object level reality and symbols exist independently. Tesla is a signifier without a signified.

Counter-signalling partly explains why pure status symbols are not among Gen Z. Taste, or aesthetic sensibility, is also an explanation. An expensive watch, such as a Patek Philippe, is still status since it's durable – to be passed on. A Mercedes? Not so much.

I also agree on your last point. Most young people today are unable to afford a home, or even pay off college debt. Wealth distribution is increasingly fat-tailed.

It’s difficult to articulate but something as pure symbol of status as Mercedes is actually low status. Tesla, which is also an environmentalist symbol, is high status. This is an example of a pattern.

I love this one. I can also recommend Letter from Utopia.