Hard scientists love to project concepts like elegance and beauty on simple equations like E = mc². A revealing choice perhaps, but also quite absurd. Economic use of symbols is really about compressing a body of theory and data to its absolute limit. But if beauty = max compression, the most beautiful painting would be 100% abstract.
19.1.19
The aesthetic fallacy
Hard scientists love to project concepts like elegance and beauty on simple equations like E = mc². A revealing choice perhaps, but also quite absurd. Economic use of symbols is really about compressing a body of theory and data to its absolute limit. But if beauty = max compression, the most beautiful painting would be 100% abstract.