Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Yes, I know I'm supposed to get on with my econs essay, but there's something which I want to record down somewhere.
It's something to do with what I did for gp today: Beauty.
We watched a video which argues that there is such a thing as universal rules which govern beauty. To those who think that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the below arguments are really worth thinking about.
Firstly, scientists discovered that there's actually a mathematical ratio that governs things that we consider beautiful. The ratio is 1:1.618, and it holds true for many many things, examples include our teeth, the ratio of the length of our lips to our nose, etc etc etc. And when you do some manipulation, you can actually get a template of what they call a beautiful face. And guess what? Tom Cruise's face fits it perfectly.
Apart from humans, nature follow this ratio closely too. Processes ranging from the growth of flowers to the pattern of petals...the list is just far too long.
In addition, beauty is also closely related to our biological wants. We are especially attracted to features that represent youth (examples include big eyes, high jawbone, thick lips, even untanned skin), because youth represents good health, and that would mean giving rise to greater sex arousal. Before any one starts thinking dirty, this is primarily for reproduction.
There is also a distinction between what we perceive to be beautiful for adults and infants. For the latter, the features which attract us are those which make us want to protect the baby more.
So, while some may say the perception of beauty changes with time and culture, we cannot deny that there are indeed some universal rules that govern beauty.
Impressive eh?
Or at least I am impressed. LoL.
Back to work.
It's something to do with what I did for gp today: Beauty.
We watched a video which argues that there is such a thing as universal rules which govern beauty. To those who think that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the below arguments are really worth thinking about.
Firstly, scientists discovered that there's actually a mathematical ratio that governs things that we consider beautiful. The ratio is 1:1.618, and it holds true for many many things, examples include our teeth, the ratio of the length of our lips to our nose, etc etc etc. And when you do some manipulation, you can actually get a template of what they call a beautiful face. And guess what? Tom Cruise's face fits it perfectly.
Apart from humans, nature follow this ratio closely too. Processes ranging from the growth of flowers to the pattern of petals...the list is just far too long.
In addition, beauty is also closely related to our biological wants. We are especially attracted to features that represent youth (examples include big eyes, high jawbone, thick lips, even untanned skin), because youth represents good health, and that would mean giving rise to greater sex arousal. Before any one starts thinking dirty, this is primarily for reproduction.
There is also a distinction between what we perceive to be beautiful for adults and infants. For the latter, the features which attract us are those which make us want to protect the baby more.
So, while some may say the perception of beauty changes with time and culture, we cannot deny that there are indeed some universal rules that govern beauty.
Impressive eh?
Or at least I am impressed. LoL.
Back to work.