Beauty as a Compass for Truth

Wilczek then takes this idea to another level: Can beauty be not just a byproduct of science, but a fundamental principle of how the world works? In other words, can physicists use it to guide themselves to new insights, the way they use mathematical intuition, experimentation and other things? Wilczek believes they can—and they have.

What's beautiful depends on who we are, what we've encountered, where we live, and when. Likewise, the art that opens us to the chaotic stream of reality-the art we find beautiful-changes with time and with us, as we evolve. Beauty, I'd come to think, doesn't have to have a physical form, and it certainly doesn't have to be something we agree on. B

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The Nobel laureate particle physicist Frank Wilczek once said that beauty exists as a dance between opposite forces. First, he said, beauty benefits from symmetry, which he defined as “change without change.” If you rotate a circle, it remains a circle, just as reversing the sides of an equation still reveals a truth (2+2=4, and 4=2+2). But beauty ... See more

Physicists have long noted that their descriptions of the universe were not only accurate and precise, but also seemed to have an intrinsic, even surprising beauty. Wilczek aims to convince us that even if we cannot do physics, we can be amazed and inspired by this beauty, no differently from how we respond to works of art and music.

What is beauty?

Symmetry is beautiful, because life blooms in cycles rather than episodes.

Elegance is beautiful, because everything that matters can be described in a few math equations or observed between a few kindergartners.

Contrast is beautiful, because something that lacks an alternative also lacks meaning.

Connection is beautiful, because the s... See more

We’re more interested in beauty as an emergent property. We want new ways of understanding beauty, and we’re increasingly rooting them in our ethics. We want to encourage the beauty found in the aliveness, or the kindness, or the gentleness of what we do as landscape makers. How things look, in this view, is slightly less important.

Nature, art, and technology all matter because of their complexity. Complexity is beauty . It’s when a bunch of simple patterns overlap in a harmonious way to create something profound. A beautiful painting might appear simple, but if you analyze and isolate the patterns, you realize how much action is happening under the hood of your attention.