Why Is the World Losing Color?

Summary

Walk around in the average parking lot, and you’ll find yourself in a sea of black, white, and silver vehicles. Watch Netflix at home or catch a film in the theaters, and you’ll get the same washed-out color grade on either screen. Glance at the logos of the world’s largest companies, and you’ll notice a shrinking palette.It all points to one thing: color is vanishing from our world.This isn’t just a hunch. Studies of everything from car paint to consumer objects show that we’re in the midst of a vast aesthetic shift. What used to be vibrant has become sterile. What used to pop out and catch our attention now fades into the background.The question is — why?The answer isn’t just about fashion or materials, but is rooted in a much older understanding of the relationship between color and truth.Here’s why color is disappearing from our world, and what we can do to bring it back…Reminder: you can support us and get tons of members-only content for a few dollars per month 👇Full-length articles every Wednesday and SaturdayMembers-only podcasts and exclusive interviewsThe entire archive of great literature, art and philosophy breakdownsApproximately 1% of our readers currently support us with a paid subscription. We are almost entirely reader-supported, so a paid upgrade helps our mission immensely. 🙏The colors around us aren’t just changing. They’re disappearing.According to major auto paint suppliers, more than 80% of new cars are now grayscale. Black, white, gray, and silver dominate the roads. Reds, blues, and greens in auto production are increasingly rare.It’s not just cars — a study of over 7,000 objects in the UK’s Science Museum found that the colors of consumer goods have been steadily neutralized since 1800. Bright, saturated tones have been giving way to gray, beige, and taupe for centuries.Graphic design has followed a similar trend. Streaming platforms, fashion brands, and e-commerce hubs are consistently rebranding in black-and-white. Most recently, HBO’s mo...