Why Is the World Losing Color?

“More and more young, intellectually inclined, and politically heterodox thinkers are showing disillusionment with the contemporary faith in technocracy and personal autonomy. They see this combination as having contributed to the fundamentally alienating character of modern Western life. The chipper, distinctly liberal optimism of rationalist cult... See more

Those Bright Colors

A thought about all those bright colors: the party district in Tokyo is organized per se, but as a massive melange of fluorescence visible from Mars. It makes Las Vegas look like a string of holiday lights around your dorm room window. Information grabs you by the retina and trips you over the sidewalk as you try to keep up. Th

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Our tastes and definitions of beauty change in response to other cultural influences, but they also change over time in response to shifts in our own society. According to de Botton, German art historian Wilhelm Worringer suggested that over the span of human history societies have oscillated between a preference for abstract and realistic art, and... See more

One thing is certain: the authenticity aesthetic served as a cohesive for all of these developments. It tied the spectrum of consumable items, spaces, and identities into a single unified visual experience.

This is a good time to discuss the demand for authenticity and where it comes from. As I hinted at previously, there’s a personal dimension to a... See more