Mimetic Mindfulness

Last week, Apple announced a series of new products:

1. The iPhone 16e - $599 "budget-friendly" phone

2. A New Lighter iPad model 

3. A Refreshed MacBook Air 

As has been usual lately with Apple, there is disappointment with this new Apple announcement.

Remember when you were excited for new Apple products? When every new product launch meant a completely revolutionary device? I guess they tried to do that with those goggles, but they were were terrible.

The days of exciting Apple announcements looks to be behind us. It looks like this is a company happy about releasing a minor incremental update or a cheaper version of existing devices.

To be fair, It’s not completely Apple’s fault. We’ve reached the end state of these devices. Their new laptop is a screen, trackpad, and keyboard. That’s basically it. What else can you really do?

Their new iPhone is the same black rectangle as other phones. Elon Musk noticed this as well, that’s why he’s not coming out with a regular phone like Apple, he’s focusing on trying to put the cell phone in your brain instead.

But Apple will sell millions of new devices anyways. They’re still a good product. It’s just that this stagnation is a disapointment when we consider Apple's revolutionary past. The company that once redefined entire product categories.

People bought Apple products for intrinsic reasons, and now I think they buy them because you’re supposed to buy Apple products.

From iPod to iPhone

For most of Apple’s recent history, they released amazing products. That’s the reason why they can just coast now.

Apple’s breakthrough began in the early 2000s when the iPod's 4th generation (2004) introduced the iconic click wheel and Windows compatibility. That device infected youth culture and primed the market for what came next. The iPhone then exploded onto the scene and reshaped consumer expectations and smartphone markets. It colonized the cultural landscape.

That’s because the true power of Apple products isn't found in their technical specifications or revolutionary design anymore, it's in social dynamics

The Social Identity Machine

The iPhone has transcended being merely a product to become a social identity marker. People see their peers with iPhones and don't consider alternatives. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone is not a bad phone. It’s fine. But so are other phones now. The outsized popularity of the iPhone requires another explanation. There is a social angle.

The phenomenon has reached such extremes that there are documented cases of people refusing to date Android users, despite many Android phones matching or exceeding iPhone specifications at similar price points.

@travjbarnett

Having an Android puts you at a Disadvantage When Dating #fyp #foryoupage #apple #samsung #dating #datingmemes #relationship

The world’s most exclusive dating app is called Raya. You can’t even download it if you have an Android phone. It’s only for the iPhone

Apple’s business is now built upon popularity. Not on innovation. People buy iPhones because others buy iPhones. This is an important point. Mimetics is how we mostly operate as humans.

Mimetics

We are a mimetic species and mostly driven by imitation. We cannot help but admire things that other people admire. We are fundamentally a copying species.

Just look around at work, for example. Most people work through imitation.

This phenomenon was extensively studied by the philosopher René Girard. At the core of his theory is a simple but powerful concept: we learn what to want by watching others.

@lukeburgis

The philosophy that changed my life 👀 #philosophy #happiness #nonfictionbooks #thoughtoftheday #viral

Mimetic desire explains how humans naturally want what others want simply because others want it. We instinctively copy the desires of those around us. This has been noticed in many areas.

Think about the "bandwagon effect". Sports teams win and new fans go see their games. Instagram is a desire machine that has people crowding the same travel locations or restaurants.

It’s been documented in research studies. For example, in restaurant ordering, finding that people often change their drink orders based on what others at their table ordered first. Or in solar panel adoption. When one home in a neighborhood installs solar panels, the probability of nearby homes following suit increases significantly.

Personally, I opt for an Android device as a small, intentional rebellion against these prevailing mimetic pressures.

The most valuable skill in this environment might be the ability to step back and ask: "Do I want this because it's genuinely valuable to me, or because I've been conditioned to want it through mimetic processes?"

Mimetics Are Not a Bad Thing

Mimetics aren't necessarily a bad thing. Copying offers clear evolutionary advantages. We evolved to do it.

Mimicry accelerates learning by letting humans adopt successful strategies without dangerous trial-and-error. Imagine if we had to reinvent everything after each generation? We’d be like animals.

There’s a good example of how copying things we don’t understand can save our life. Take the example of Manioc Processing from the Harvard Anthropologist Joseph Heinreich on this: Manioc (cassava) is a highly efficient, drought-resistant tuber that produces more calories per acre than grain crops and has been a staple of the diet of South Americans for centuries. However, it contains deadly cyanide that must be properly processed to be safe for consumption. Amazonian communities have developed complex detoxification methods passed down through generations, yet remarkably, most practitioners cannot explain why these specific steps are necessary, they simply copy what others do. As Henrich points out, humans evolved to "imitate successful people rather than figuring everything out independently," a strategy that has proven far more efficient than constant reinvention.

Perhaps most practically, Mimetics reduces cognitive load. In a world of endless choices, copying trusted others saves mental energy, providing an efficiency advantage that served our ancestors and continues to benefit us today.

But what happens when an evolutionary adaptation that served us well in the past gets amplified by algorithms, global connectivity, and corporate interests?

The results mean it can drastic effects on us and the world.

Music and Mimetics

Take the example of music.

In the connected global world we live in, the benefits of mimetics are supercharged, creating extreme winner-take-all markets. That means the most popular isn’t always the best. They’re just the most popular.

Taylor Swift exemplifies this phenomenon. Her massive popularity doesn't stem from being objectively "better" than thousands of other talented musicians. Many artists create music of similar or even superior technical quality. Swift instead rides a self-reinforcing wave of mimetic desire. People listen to her music because others listen to her music. They flock to her concerts because attending has become a cultural event. The Eras Tour transcends a mere concert series, it has become a social phenomenon people want to experience precisely because others are experiencing it.

It simply highlights how mimetic desire creates outsized rewards disconnected from proportional differences in quality. The gap between Swift and the 500th most popular musician doesn't reflect a comparable gap in talent, it demonstrates mimetic acceleration at work.

Was Music in the Past Better?

These same forces explain why people struggle to embrace new musical artists. We frequently hear the refrain "Music was better in the past." Big Youtube influencers with millions of viewers keep saying it. But was it really?

Was it?

Today, there are millions of musicians uploading their music to all sorts of platforms. In the 20th century the only music that I could listen to was the one in the record store that I could buy. That’s a few hundred artists. I have access to a millions of artists now when I open my phone and go to Spotify, Soundcloud or Bandcamp. The amount of choice is overwhelming.

And therein lies the problem. The interaction between music and mimetics distorts our perceptions. We fundamentally alter our opinions of music based on how others rate it. If I listen to a song knowing many other people like it, it influences my ranking of it. That’s why the millions of songs with only a few view online, which could be amazing, don’t really get a large following.

This effect has been demonstrated.

In a 2006 study, researchers created an artificial music market where participants could listen to, rate, and download songs by unknown bands. They split participants into two groups: one making choices independently, and another who could see how many times others had downloaded each song.

The results were interesting. When participants could see download counts, they overwhelmingly favored already-popular songs. The same song could become a "hit" in one version of the experiment and fail completely in another, based solely on visible popularity metrics. The mere knowledge that others had downloaded a track led people to rate it higher, not because of any difference in the music itself, but because of social proof. The researchers concluded that while quality mattered somewhat, social influence played the dominant role in determining success.

We may not like the result, but songs that we know other people like actually sound better to us.

That’s one of the reasons why it’s hard to make it as a musician these days.

But it doesn’t just apply to music. It applies to everything. Once we see the metrics, we are influenced.

It triggers our mimetic impulse.

Focus on Intrinsic Motivation

The good news is we can escape mimicry with some effort.

When you become aware of how social influence shapes your preferences, for iPhones, Taylor Swift songs, or trending restaurants, you free yourself from these invisible forces.

Intrinsic motivation requires you to ask yourself fundamental questions: Does this serve my needs? Do I genuinely enjoy this experience? Would I want this if nobody knew about my choice?

This awareness doesn't require you to reject all social influence, an impossible and undesirable goal given the evolutionary advantages of mimetics. Instead, you must develop a conscious relationship with influence itself, deliberately choosing whose desires shape your own.

This practice embodies "mimetic mindfulness”, you notice when social forces construct your desires and occasionally choose differently, not out of contrarianism, but to ensure your choices reflect what truly matters to you.