Mathematician Jonathan Touboul has devised a formula to try and explain why hipsters end up looking the same, despite their efforts to look different.
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It’s called the “Hipster Paradox.” In a study titled “The hipster effect: When anticonformists all look the same”, mathematician and professor Jonathan Touboul from the College of France explains why hipsters, who classify themselves as non-conformists, all end up looking the same. His mathematical equation, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Disordered Systems and Neural Networks late last year, has been making the rounds today in trending news.
Dailytech noted April 14 that the idea of a hipster equation may give rise to giggles. “Sometimes math might seem dry,” they wrote, “but at times, mathematicians find ways to remind us they’ve got an ample sense of humor and multidisciplinary insight.” That is not to say that the math used for the equation is not rigorous. It is. “Professor Touboul employs a sophisticated bag of mathematical tricks used to model non-static biological dynamics, including thermodynamic limits (aka "jump statistics"), stability formulas, differential equations, advanced algebra, and examination of Hopf bifurcations.”
The mathematical formula shows that when people try to turn away from mainstream trends, they essentially become part of another one. Instead of uniqueness, uniformity comes instead. Counter-culture groups such as hipsters make the same choices because they are not quick enough to notice when trends have left the mainstream. The Washington Post relates that basically, “By the time most nonconformists find the hot new thing no one has ever heard of, lots of other people are discovering it as well.”
This model doesn’t just apply specifically to hipsters, but also to other movements like the Beatniks of the ‘50s and ’60s or the punk rock movement. Any anti-mainstream group can fall into the same paradox.
Professor Touboul believes that his mathematical model can be used in further understanding brain dynamics and sociological trends. He believes that they will be applicable to many areas including sociology and marketing. The study also states that uniqueness isn’t impossible. In order for counter-culture groups to succeed in nonconformity, they must be tight-knit and über informed about their immediate community as well as past mainstream movements.
*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com
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