In an era of infinite scroll and AI-assisted thinking, is big brain energy becoming our most seductive and strategic asset?
By Hemali Gandhi
We’re Knowledge Maxxinggg in Bars and Parks
Collectives like Pint of View, Brydge and Society of Intellectuals are hijacking bars across mega cities for cognitive clout by hosting professor and expert talks on neuroscience, philosophy, history, and more.
Silent reading communities like Cubbon Reads meet every Saturday in public parks, where people simply show up with their own books and read. What started in Bengaluru as a tiny, wholesome experiment is now 130+ chapters across 70+ cities.
“People from completely different walks of life show up, choosing curiosity over scrolling. What makes these evenings so powerful is that learning becomes communal – open to interruption, questioning, laughter and lingering conversations with the expert after the talk ends.
I truly believe that we never lost our curiosity as adults; we simply lost spaces capable of holding it. Rebuilding those spaces is something we must take on collectively, as a society.”
- Siya Sarnaik, co-founder of Brydge, a group bringing expert-led talks to bars across India.
Deep Dives are Scaling Across Platforms
India’s podcast numbers - #3 in the world, projected to reach 267M by 2029
Substack is also sitting at 5M paying readers and 35M free.
And Then It Becomes Identity
Internet girlies are dropping Substack reading recs in a pool of GRWMs and ragebaits.
Soo, why is intellectualism suddenly….. hot again?
The internet has gone feral. Between irrational political discourse, AI deepfakes, and yes, the endless skibidi toilet rabbit holes, we’re all drowning in nonsense.
What seems to be happening is a full-on backlash against this anti-intellectualism. When everything feels oddly meaningless, knowing things (or at least the feeling of knowing things) starts to feel grounding.
But, are we learning for learning's sake or are we simply curating a visual identity rooted in intellect?
We’re now Knowledge Flexxxing
Take the Dior Book Tote, one of the year’s most flexed luxury pieces. They slapped actual first-edition book covers on their bags - from Dracula to Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
The same energy shows up in Channel hosting ‘literary rendezvous’ at its acquired bookshop in Paris, Coach starting its own book club and Prada commissioning a novelist to write ten original short stories inspired by its Spring/Summer 2025 campaign.
Celebs are levelling up their cred with books and long-form ideas
Take Dua Lipa’s most stylish Service95 Book Club.
Alia Bhatt drops book recs.
Twinkle Khanna curates monthly reading lists.
The Nod Book Club is hosting actors like Sonam Kapoor.
Is this depth or is this drip?
In 2025, literacy hit a 30-year low. The number of students who say they rarely or never read jumped from 22% to 31%.
An average person could previously come up with 8 to 12 unique ideas in standard creativity tests. Now, with heavy AI dependence, that number’s shrunk to 3 to 5.In an era where genuine critical thinking and deep reading are on a decline,
Looking smart = max social clout
Private Growth still meets Public Proof
Well, tons of folks are genuinely learning. With 124M posts on Instagram tagged #Bookstagram, a lot of that brain juice may definitely be real.
But learning rarely stays low-key anymore. Lectures in bars, book club meetups - all live on the gram. Thus, it inevitably enters the realm of performative intellectualism.
Intellectualism is entering the lifestyle economy and the experience economy
The second something turns into a trend,
Everyone learns the formula.
And once we know the formula,
we can spot the knock-offs.
We can spot alllll the
intellectual cosplay & smart-for-the-aesthetic energy.
The Whole Truth does it brilliantly
- The Whole Truth Podcast - deep dive conversations into food & fitness ft. health experts
- FBI workshops - kids and adults become label detectives, spot sneaky claims, and actually think about what’s on their plate with pros like FoodPharmer
- Truth Be Told Newsletter + The Whole Truth Academy - BS free articles, tools and guides to eat smarter
Intellectual culture today can be both genuine curiosity and social signalling. Brands that don’t create that contradiction stand to win.
As you build your brand’s brainy spaces, ask yourself: Are you creating a genuine space for curiosity and ideas, or is this just another trend you’re hopping on?
