Popular status signals have lost all their magic.

The once renowned list of entrepreneurs Forbes 30 under 30 is now depicted as a hub of criminals; shilling your prestigious job titles on Linkedin will only turn you into a meme, and Justin Bieber removed his Bored Apes NFT from his profile picture a while ago (a lost, truly).

In an age of abundance, the power law of status signal has been reversed.

And the new cool is to simply don’t give a fuck.

Bragging Has Become An Implicit Sign Of Low Status

Just a couple of weeks ago, a dude named Dustin Varano decided to flex his latest achievement on Twitter, hoping to receive a stream of messages from people telling him how so amazing he was.

https://twitter.com/dustinvarano/status/1682848712941514752

But Dustin received the opposite reaction.

The post quickly generated over 20M impressions, and thousands of people started making fun of him—tough crowd.

In reality, it's not what Dustin posted that turned him into a meme (even though bragging about being on a yacht with 15 dudes is a weird kind of flex).

It's simply that everyone spotted the flex.

And nothing is as unimpressive as someone trying too hard to impress.

It's like wearing a neon sign that blinks "Desperate for Approval, Please Like Me."

It's just cringe.

Don't try this at home.

No, do you know what Dustin should have done to flex successfully?

Counter-signaling. Do the absolute opposite of what he did.

That's what the REAL cool kids are doing.

They show they are so well off that they can afford to engage in activities and behaviors that people typically associate with low status.

Don't believe me?

Let me make my case.

Jack Raines, one of my favorite internet writers, publishes weekly blog posts about Finance and Career advice. In a couple of years, he grew his following to ~45,000 readers and has now managed to live from his writing.

Now, with his large audience and such promising opportunities ahead of him, you'd assume Jack would polish his Linkedin profile and showcase his impressive Newsletter’s stats to please potential future advertisers, right?

Well, he is doing the exact opposite.

He publishes satirical posts on Linkedin like this one, pretending he has landed a new job at Goldman Sachs by beating other candidates at a beer mile. With such kind of shitposting, Jack makes the buzz, sure.

But he also attracts the wrath of those who think he is being serious, and prevents himself from being hired anywhere. That’s stupid, you might say.

But that's the whole point.

Jack is so good at writing that he can afford to counter-signal…

… which makes him even cooler and well-employable for those in the know.

*What a life*

Cobie, a thinker, writer, and crypto OG with 730K subscribers on Twitter, is another great example.

He publishes fascinating blog posts on his Substack, and trust me, he's smarter than you and I combined.

But guess the tagline of his newsletter?

"Web3 Idiot, I publish without proofreading and then wish I did."

His Twitter bio?

"Trying to kick a multi-decade internet addiction."

See, there's no mention of "Forbes 30 under 30", "ex-Google," or "founder of a very cool startup."

He simply shows the world he doesn't give a fuck - and it works.

Alright, allow me a final example here.

Jason Levin is an online writer who I like to read from time to time. For some reason, I recently decided to go check his Linkedin profile (don't ask me why).

Here's how Jason describes his past professional experience working as a writer for a crypto publication on Linkedin:

"I partied at crypto conferences, interviewed a bunch of nerds, and wrote articles 3-5x/week for newsletter to 90,000 in crypto."

When he describes his other experiences, you can read:

"I drank a lot of coffee and made dank memes."

Now that's a flex that's so nonchalant it's practically a mic drop.

Yet, Jason seems to be doing a comfortable salary writing for startups.

Why?

Because don't giving a fuck is the new cool.

There's a reason why Elon Musk, one of the most powerful CEOs on the planet, doesn't show off with a Ferrari on socials but posts memes every day, smokes on a podcast, and fights in a cage.

Because showing you’re so well off you can afford counter-signaling is the new ultimate flex.

See, we humans are a simple species.

We're wired for validation.

And oh boy, do we chase it.

Most of us are actually NOT desperate for more money and we’re not THAT impressed by people showing off how rich they are. We’ve seen so many pseudo-influencers flexing their net worth on Instagram that we’re much harder to impress.

But every single one of us is desperate for more attention, status, and respect.

And this will still be true in a 100 years.

In an era where flexing how so rich you are has become too obvious to convince anyone, counter-signaling is your new best chance to get attention.

Because while money can still buy you an island and pretty much whatever you want, money doesn’t buy you the intangible delight of knowing that people secretly admire you anymore.

Closing Thoughts

After being bombarded with the “Here’s how I became a millionaire in 10 steps” threads, most of us learned to discount information where there are obvious motivations to exaggerate.

And don’t giving a fuck has quickly become the new move to subtly say:

"I succeed so easily I don't need to flaunt my achievements - quite the opposite"

Because do you know what’s cooler than winning in 2023?

Showing others you’re winning so easily you can even afford counter-signaling.

Speak soon,

- Eliot