By skyforbes 
What the 18th-century philosopher of awe might think about trauma edits, corecore and algorithmic transcendence
The Sublime, Then and Now
Immanuel Kant described the sublime as the feeling we experience when confronted by something vast, powerful or overwhelming, something that challenges the limits of our perception but does not destroy us. Standing before a thunderstorm, a mountain range or the infinite night sky, we tremble and then reassert our reason. It is a confrontation with chaos that affirms our place in the cosmos.
That was the 18th-century version. Today, it might happen in the comment section of a corecore edit. Or while watching a TikTok montage of urban decay, synth chords and softly whispered narration about the end of the world.
This is the algorithmic sublime: a digital mode of overwhelming feeling that fuses aesthetic overload with mediated collapse. Kant did not have the For You Page. But if he did, he might still recognize the vibe.
Corecore and the Structure of Feeling
Corecore is a TikTok-native aesthetic that collages micro-emotions, cultural detritus, lo-fi audio and visual intensity into short-form emotional…