Give a split
Before getting into it, I want to express that all the ideas below are 100% mine. Entirely original. No external sources inspired any of this thought. I am the definitive sole author, and all credit should reflect that. No one before me provided any insight or shared any knowledge relating to what I’m about to share. Ideas are entangled things. Epiphanies are not our own, but the sum of everything around us, connecting in what feels like a moment. Authors are portrayed as singular figures, wh...
Where it’s at
I’m glad to remember an internet that didn’t feel like it was trying to drain my attention all the time. Growing up in small towns and being unschooled, the net was both a portal for seeing the world and contributing to it. I talked about it briefly in my last entry—an introduction. I’ve always enjoyed building things with whatever material is around. Back then it was a hand-me-down Compaq and dialup. I didn’t have like, hand tools to build a treehouse, but a machine with a connection. Not re...
How it’s been; an introduction
Jon-Kyle starter packI’m excited to have joined up with Graeme and Denis to create Mirror, where I’m responsible for all things design, interface, interaction, front-end, and all that. With this being my first entry on Mirror I figure it can serve as an introduction to help provide context for future entries. What follows are a few personal anecdotes and speculation on things like cultural protocols, social(ish) interfaces, absolutely devouring fresh pizza in the mountains and possibilities f...
Here; There. Online; Offline.
Give a split
Before getting into it, I want to express that all the ideas below are 100% mine. Entirely original. No external sources inspired any of this thought. I am the definitive sole author, and all credit should reflect that. No one before me provided any insight or shared any knowledge relating to what I’m about to share. Ideas are entangled things. Epiphanies are not our own, but the sum of everything around us, connecting in what feels like a moment. Authors are portrayed as singular figures, wh...
Where it’s at
I’m glad to remember an internet that didn’t feel like it was trying to drain my attention all the time. Growing up in small towns and being unschooled, the net was both a portal for seeing the world and contributing to it. I talked about it briefly in my last entry—an introduction. I’ve always enjoyed building things with whatever material is around. Back then it was a hand-me-down Compaq and dialup. I didn’t have like, hand tools to build a treehouse, but a machine with a connection. Not re...
How it’s been; an introduction
Jon-Kyle starter packI’m excited to have joined up with Graeme and Denis to create Mirror, where I’m responsible for all things design, interface, interaction, front-end, and all that. With this being my first entry on Mirror I figure it can serve as an introduction to help provide context for future entries. What follows are a few personal anecdotes and speculation on things like cultural protocols, social(ish) interfaces, absolutely devouring fresh pizza in the mountains and possibilities f...
Here; There. Online; Offline.

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This is a quick ramble about Parametric TikTok — a pattern shaped by the recommendation algorithm where creators make viral formats and bombard them w/ variation, not unlike processes seen w/ GANs and style transfer.
My favorite instance of this is Little Durag[^1], who created a viral dance set to Metro Station[^2] (lol) and proceeded to feed it input sourced from comments.
“Dance at 10% with 100% emotion.” “0% dance, 0% emotion, 100% far away.” “100% dance and 100% sadness.” “10% emotion, 100% dance.” “100% right arm, 10% left arm.”
What’s interesting is the feedback loop between how parametric the whole thing is and the TikTok algorithm — itself a parametrically weighted system.
The “killer feature” on TikTok is the algorithm — the sauce determining what appears in For You, the primary surface. It’s noticeably better than anything similar, like Instagram Discover. Apps are mediums of their own. What is appropriate for one platform may feel out of place on another. The context shapes the content.
Parametric TikTok is truly native to the platform.
Parametric TikTok is a symptom of its parent platform similar to early Mr Beast on Youtube. Let’s call it Analytic Youtube. My absolute favorite is the 2017 durational work (lol) “Saying Logan Paul 100,000 Times” in which he says Logan Paul 100,000 times over 17 hours.
Youtube is a platform driven aggressively by metrics. Big numbers. No surprise this performed well. Today the work has 16,492,195 views. Hear me out; this shit is profound[^3]. He takes the aggregate behavior of 100,000 Youtubers and performs it in one go. Call it “The User is Present” or whatever.
We live in an increasingly parametric world. One easily consumed and shaped by models. It’s funny to think about how these TikTokers are normalizing “parametric design” in a sense.

For instance, within architecture, a site condition is established and permutations in form are generated. The design processes becomes curatorial. Many practices today are centered around these principles of parametricism in response to advances in fabrication; the tools and materials at hand.
We can say this is nothing new or novel. It’s just more evenly distributed now. In other words, fuck your process, I’m just making TikToks.
In the near future I expect to see way more ML video processing beyond face filters. The emergent behavior of TikTokers feels like a warm up for this super automated future. A convergence between inevitable functionality and what creators are making today.
Snap has shipped filters which map your face on to animations that make you dance… this is not what I’m trying to point out here. It has more to do w/ creative process and how the platforms shape the work created and shared within them.
I wonder how much of Parametric TikTok’s novelty is thanks to interpretation. If we had trained a model on Little Durag’s dance and curated the best 10 out of 100,000 permutations would it hit the same? Even assuming they were indistinguishable from the originals?
By the time it’s possible I assume the novelty will have worn off. Similar to how anyone who has grown up with the artificiality of facetune can see right through it. I am curious to see the unexpected ways these future applications of ML on platforms will continue to shape what users create and share.
This entry was written in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and reposted here for archival purposes. Anyway, I’m not here to make a point. Just meandering after going down a TikTok hole ¯\(ツ)/¯
And don’t get me started on Pandemic Parametric TikTok.
[^1]: There are plenty of other instances, including imjoeyreed. Durag stands out for how the comments are literally weighted. [^2]: Yea I’m gonna play this card. I was waaaaay ahead of the curve on Metro Station. I was friends w/ someone who was the sister of one of the two guys. A demo of Shake It was her song on Myspace. I remember when they signed to Columbia. Let me cling to my relevancy. [^3]: Come at me. [^4]: Kyle Chayka, whose writing is consistently a source of useful insight, kindly shared this entry.
This is a quick ramble about Parametric TikTok — a pattern shaped by the recommendation algorithm where creators make viral formats and bombard them w/ variation, not unlike processes seen w/ GANs and style transfer.
My favorite instance of this is Little Durag[^1], who created a viral dance set to Metro Station[^2] (lol) and proceeded to feed it input sourced from comments.
“Dance at 10% with 100% emotion.” “0% dance, 0% emotion, 100% far away.” “100% dance and 100% sadness.” “10% emotion, 100% dance.” “100% right arm, 10% left arm.”
What’s interesting is the feedback loop between how parametric the whole thing is and the TikTok algorithm — itself a parametrically weighted system.
The “killer feature” on TikTok is the algorithm — the sauce determining what appears in For You, the primary surface. It’s noticeably better than anything similar, like Instagram Discover. Apps are mediums of their own. What is appropriate for one platform may feel out of place on another. The context shapes the content.
Parametric TikTok is truly native to the platform.
Parametric TikTok is a symptom of its parent platform similar to early Mr Beast on Youtube. Let’s call it Analytic Youtube. My absolute favorite is the 2017 durational work (lol) “Saying Logan Paul 100,000 Times” in which he says Logan Paul 100,000 times over 17 hours.
Youtube is a platform driven aggressively by metrics. Big numbers. No surprise this performed well. Today the work has 16,492,195 views. Hear me out; this shit is profound[^3]. He takes the aggregate behavior of 100,000 Youtubers and performs it in one go. Call it “The User is Present” or whatever.
We live in an increasingly parametric world. One easily consumed and shaped by models. It’s funny to think about how these TikTokers are normalizing “parametric design” in a sense.

For instance, within architecture, a site condition is established and permutations in form are generated. The design processes becomes curatorial. Many practices today are centered around these principles of parametricism in response to advances in fabrication; the tools and materials at hand.
We can say this is nothing new or novel. It’s just more evenly distributed now. In other words, fuck your process, I’m just making TikToks.
In the near future I expect to see way more ML video processing beyond face filters. The emergent behavior of TikTokers feels like a warm up for this super automated future. A convergence between inevitable functionality and what creators are making today.
Snap has shipped filters which map your face on to animations that make you dance… this is not what I’m trying to point out here. It has more to do w/ creative process and how the platforms shape the work created and shared within them.
I wonder how much of Parametric TikTok’s novelty is thanks to interpretation. If we had trained a model on Little Durag’s dance and curated the best 10 out of 100,000 permutations would it hit the same? Even assuming they were indistinguishable from the originals?
By the time it’s possible I assume the novelty will have worn off. Similar to how anyone who has grown up with the artificiality of facetune can see right through it. I am curious to see the unexpected ways these future applications of ML on platforms will continue to shape what users create and share.
This entry was written in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and reposted here for archival purposes. Anyway, I’m not here to make a point. Just meandering after going down a TikTok hole ¯\(ツ)/¯
And don’t get me started on Pandemic Parametric TikTok.
[^1]: There are plenty of other instances, including imjoeyreed. Durag stands out for how the comments are literally weighted. [^2]: Yea I’m gonna play this card. I was waaaaay ahead of the curve on Metro Station. I was friends w/ someone who was the sister of one of the two guys. A demo of Shake It was her song on Myspace. I remember when they signed to Columbia. Let me cling to my relevancy. [^3]: Come at me. [^4]: Kyle Chayka, whose writing is consistently a source of useful insight, kindly shared this entry.
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