Hyperselection: How Optimization is Making Everything Boring

A growing phenomenon dubbed 'hyperselection' may be the reason modern music, movies, and even city planning feel increasingly predictable and uninspired, according to a new paper published in Frontiers in Psychology. Researchers from Singapore Management University and James Cook University in Singapore suggest that intense competition and the drive for optimization are leading to a homogenization of culture and products.

Jose C. Yong, the study's lead author, likens hyperselection to natural selection, where the most effective strategies or traits are repeatedly chosen and refined. In today's fast-paced, data-driven world, this process is accelerated, leading to the selection of characteristics that consistently perform well. While optimization can be beneficial, hyperselection occurs when this process becomes so dominant that it erodes diversity and discourages experimentation.

"We can now identify what performs best, copy it almost instantly, and keep optimizing it," Yong explained. "This process then gets accelerated when there’s strong selection pressure, such as intense competition or when the consequences for not optimizing are high."

This optimization at the cost of variety can lead to a decline in creativity. Yong points to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" as an example of a song that defied convention and became a classic, contrasting it with contemporary pop music, which he finds often sounds similar and forgettable. He notes that genres like whisper-singing pop and mumble rap exhibit characteristics of hyperselection.

Edison Tan, a co-author of the study, expressed a similar sentiment, stating, "My taste didn’t change – the world has. I crave rich and detailed expressions that pop music no longer provides."

The paper argues that hyperselection extends beyond music. In professional soccer, for instance, teams adopt similar successful tactics, leading to games that are strategically sophisticated but less varied in execution. In academia, researchers feel pressured to prioritize quantifiable metrics like publication counts and grant money over bold, original ideas.

Tan observed, "A PhD has long lost the P for Philosophy. Once we start seeing the same pattern popping up in every other aspect of life, we wonder whether there is a fundamental force underlying these trends."

Artificial intelligence is expected to further accelerate hyperselection. AI systems are designed for recursive optimization and can operate at speeds and scales far exceeding human capabilities. Yong anticipates that AI-generated content, from articles to music, will become increasingly similar as it is optimized based on existing successful patterns.

"We’re already starting to see this in online content, where AI-generated articles, marketing copy, social media posts, images, videos, website designs, and even music feel remarkably similar because they are generated from the same underlying patterns and increasingly optimized according to what works," he said.

Despite the potential downsides, Yong emphasizes that optimization itself is not inherently negative. The concern is that the intense pressure to optimize can lead creators to discard potentially valuable variations without realizing it. He advocates for increased awareness of hyperselection as a means to foster creativity and preserve diversity.

"Creativity often comes from encountering different things and combining them in new ways," Yong said. "If everything starts looking, sounding, and functioning the same, we lose both a reservoir of alternative strategies and the raw material from which new ideas can emerge."

The researchers suggest that audiences can play a role by actively seeking out and demanding more diverse and less formulaic cultural products, thereby influencing the selection pressures on what gets produced.