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The Ecology of Cool: When Being Chosen Stops Mattering

The Ecology of Cool: When Being Chosen Stops Mattering

Why we fake it, how it breaks us, and the strange, wide‑open freedom on the other side.

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Steiger Neils Bryke
May 18, 2025
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Steiger’s Substack
Steiger’s Substack
The Ecology of Cool: When Being Chosen Stops Mattering
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We aren’t shallow—just absorbing survival code before we had frontal lobes.

Overture: One Aluminum Sigh

The night begins, as every cool night does, with a hiss—carbonated lime slicing the air on a Mission District, San Francisco rooftop. My can fogs, fairy lights blink Morse code, and somewhere a product manager laughs exactly one decibel above believable…

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