Answering the ‘Call for a New Aesthetics’ - Fast Company
These 20 human beings are inventing new ways to harness the ever-accelerating cognitive power of agentic AI. LOGIN These 20 human beings are inventing new ways to harness the ever-accelerating cognitive power of agentic AI. 08-12-2026 DESIGN Billionaire Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and libertarian economist Tyler Cowen have created a grant program to replace modernism—and define a new look for the 21st century. [Source Photos: Claudio Divizia/Adobe Stock, Nadirco/Adobe Stock, Mandritoiu/Adobe Stock, Alan John Ainsworth/Heritage Images/Getty Images] BY NATE BERG In late December, Stripe CEO and tech billionaire Patrick Collison and libertarian economist Tyler Cowen published a one-page website with the provocative title “A Call for New Aesthetics.” In around 500 words, the two longtime collaborators outlined an informal grant program they were launching to fund artists and thinkers who want to define the aesthetic of the 21st century. The 20th century, they noted, was largely influenced