To those who insist on thinking when the world only wants to optimize.
To those who study symbols while others demand metrics.
To those who understand that legitimacy is not printed—it is built.
To those who work in the invisible.

A few days ago, a robbery at the Louvre reminded us that value does not always lie in what something costs. Someone stole jewels, but what truly disappeared was the narrative that made them unique. We obsess over the shine, forgetting that nothing holds value on its own. Gold without a story is just metal. And luxury—like art or identity—only exists when it is sustained by narrative.

Napoleon understood early on that clothing is never just clothing. As Frédéric Godart recounts, in a calculated gesture, Bonaparte would dress in the simple uniforms of his soldiers while simultaneously wearing the insignia of an emperor. That contrast allowed him to project both proximity and authority. It wasn’t fashion—it was power.

“We are not told what to think, but how to overthink.” This phrase—a sharp synthesis of how media operates in the era of narrative capitalism—captures the way symbolic structures shape not only our desires, but also the boundaries of what we believe is possible.

Every culture produces symbols, but not every individual has agency over them. In an era where power has shifted from volume to representation, mastering the symbolic is not aesthetic frivolity—it is an ontological strategy.

From the earliest stages of human history, rituals have functioned as symbolic technologies—tools to produce cohesion, meaning, and social order. Long before algorithms existed, there was fire at the center of a circle. Bodies moving around it. Crowns, rings, flags.

For a long time, I believed in the saying that "there's no accounting for taste." However, I have realized this is more myth than reality over time. Taste is not purely arbitrary or entirely personal. Criteria, theories, and principles define what looks beautiful or unattractive, luxurious or inexpensive. While personal preference does play a role, it is not the sole determining factor in how we perceive design, aesthetics, and value.