Both social research and market trends show people are pushing back against digital saturation, paying a premium for presence and authenticity.

By the time Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning hit theaters last May, the marketing narrative had become as famous as the franchise itself. The studio made sure we knew that when Tom Cruise hung off the wing of a biplane at 8,000 feet, he was actually doing it. There were safety riggings, sure, but there were no pixels where the human should be.

Compare that to the reception of recent VFX-heavy blockbusters, where armies of digital artists are employed to create spectacles, at grand scale but without stakes. The audience disconnects. We know nobody is in danger. Audiences struggle to empathize with purely artificial characters, even when the visuals are flawless, because we connect emotionally to agency and risk. When everything can be faked, the premium on what is real skyrockets.

In a previous article, Rise of the Curators, I argued that as AI commoditizes the mundane — automating logic, logistics, and basic creation — humans would ascend the “economic value ladder” toward high-touch, curated experiences.

But there is a second half to that prediction, one that is now unfolding with surprising economic force. We not only seek human curators, we are actively rebelling against the digital itself. An “authenticity recoil” is underway — a consumer-driven pivot back to physical, imperfect, high-friction experiences.

...read more at thedailyeconomy.org