Veblen-doer hierarchy
Science is savagery. “Hmm what happens if I eat the apple like the nice snake says?”
Engineering is barbarism: “How do I solve this problem with minimal refinement?”
Design is civilization: “How can I express Brooklyn aesthetics with maximal refinement?”
Conversation
Thought inspired by conversation with (currently on twitter hiatus) re: next theme.
Tag yourself. I’m in noble scientific savage mode.
Replying to
For those who don’t get it, my primer on Veblenism from 2011, and it’s relationship to technological refinement, may help.
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Something I did not recognize fully then: refinement is not the same as precision. Precision is a function of necessity. The clock simply won’t run if the gears aren’t aligned precisely enough. Refinement is precision beyond functional necessity, driven by aesthetic necessity.
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