Beauty, utility, eternity. Pick 2 of 3.
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Nearly 10 years since I made up the first version of this shitpost in 2012. I think the 2021 version is better.
Utility = generalized money
Eternity = asymptotic longevity = long-half-life truth = generalized make-sense ribbonfarm.com/2012/08/09/the
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If you want to avoid infinities, think of it as beauty, utility, longevity
Actually I think I like that better
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The logic of the tradeoff hinges on identifying beauty with a resource surplus used in way that produces a stable signal that serves as a persistent identity over time. Whatever signature identifies a thing as the _same_ thing at 2 points in time is a function of its “beauty.”
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Replying to
Useful to consider each pure case
Beauty + longevity = purely symbolic monument
Longevity + utility = pure creative destruction
Beauty + utility = pure transient instantaneous consciousness
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I find the pure longevity+utility case most interesting. There is no beauty, because there’s no persistence to be either beautiful or ugly. It’s “not even ugly.”
Annihilated-self amnesiac pure process non-being-and-time.
In a Bergsonian mood this morning.
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Pure utility+longevity only has coherence only to the extent it has a perfect thermodynamic boundary. It’s a mindless sub-universe unto itself that leaks out and dissolves into the universe. Maybe like how a black hole can evaporate.
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This kind of useless shitpost is what happens when I don’t get enough sleep and haven’t had a second cup of coffee.
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Since all 3 asymptotic cases are impossible, and you have to be in the interior,… calibration practical near-pure cases:
Beauty + utility = latte art
Utility + longevity = interchangeable commodity component
Longevity + beauty = family heirloom
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Sorry if this thread ruined your Saturday morning buzz, but it’s not my fault you’re on Twitter instead of out and about, enjoying the wildfire-smoke-haze
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