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Why is everything so ugly?

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Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#121

Post by jevoten »

midasuni wrote: post #7

Beauty isn’t valued in these areas by those with the resources to choose it. When the majority of people and businesses live hand to mouth, those that don’t have to constantly maximise exponential returns to their owners. Who has money to burn on “valueless” beauty Even if the cost of beauty is the same, and there is an actual value, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you are increasing maximum potential value…

> (you turn off some buyers who don’t like the look)

Fortunately the modernist minimal grayscale look is universally beloved, so no-one is turned off by that.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#122

Post by tourmalinetaco »

bluetomcat wrote: post #92
CooCooCaCha wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call it capitalism, call it competition, call it an optimization process or w/e but this is a common phenomenon. Whenever you have people trying to maximize some value they'll copy the strategy they view as most successful and other factors take a back seat. Maximizing the resale value of a home involves making it appeal to the largest number of people. Adding character risks lowering demand by appealing to niche mar…

I see it as an “iphonification” of industrial design and architecture. White cars became trendy in the early 2010s, after the white iPhone 4. Every item that wants to be perceived as a quality one is targeting that minimalistic, uncluttered, quirk-free look.

Beige computer cases with lots of details falling out of the way for black boxes, and then black boxes with LEDs, will always be the bane of my aesthetic existence.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#123

Post by Throw84949 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #101
Throw84949 wrote: post #85

Go and spend summer in Russia, it is the perfect antidote. St. Petersburg is amazingly beautiful! Museums, architecture, cultural performances, no morbidly obese people on streets, no graffiti, even metro is nice!

I'd rather visit sunny Magnitogorsk: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fn... (Actually I'd rather visit Kyiv but I've heard that now's not a good time.)

You can visit Kyiv.

Regiojet.com has daily trains from Krakow to Kyiv, with guaranteed connection at UA border. It takes about 14 hours and 50 euro. Or dozens buses every day, but you will have to wait for several hours at border (train skips queue).

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#124

Post by snakeyjake »

> After New York replaced the sodium-vapor lights in the city’s 250,000 streetlamps with shiny new LEDs in 2017, the experience of walking through the city at night transformed, almost . . . overnight. Forgiving, romantic, shadowy orange gave way to cold, all-seeing bluish white.

Before the late 1970s, NYC was illuminated at night by pinkish-white incandescent bulbs.

When the yellow monstrosities were rolled out people almost rioted. Their harsh orange glow invaded bedrooms creeping between gaps in curtains and assaulting the eyes, destroyed the soft and warm ambiance that had set the night scene for generations, and muted all colors into a monochromatic hellscape.

After just 30 seconds on TimesMachine I found an article from 1982 about the transition and how some residents were hesitant and one jurisdiction rejected the change out of hand. It took a long time for NYC to gain its orange glow and people didn't like it. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1982/09/12/137...

Lol here's another article from the 40s: "Sodium light is not suitable for city streets, Commissioner Goodman said, because it gives a person a sallow appearance not liked by women."

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1940/05/26/iss...

People of my age view them as a nuisance born out of the austerity of the 1970s, a temporary suboptimal fix that persisted due to inertia. A reminder of the rot and desperation of the that era.

Now this dude is nostalgic for them?

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#125

Post by [deleted] »

dzdt wrote: post #65

Missing context: I believe the building referred to as "The Josh" is the Gluck+ affordable housing development Van Sinderen Plaza. [1] Compare the colorful panel surfacing to the description "Our new neighbor is a classic 5-over-1: retail on the ground floor, topped with several stories of apartments one wouldn’t want to be able to afford... We spent the summer certain that the caution tape–yellow panels on The Josh’…

[deleted]

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#126

Post by CooCooCaCha »

pixl97 wrote: post #115
CooCooCaCha wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call it capitalism, call it competition, call it an optimization process or w/e but this is a common phenomenon. Whenever you have people trying to maximize some value they'll copy the strategy they view as most successful and other factors take a back seat. Maximizing the resale value of a home involves making it appeal to the largest number of people. Adding character risks lowering demand by appealing to niche mar…

>You see similar things all over the place. It's called society. If most people didn't follow other people (or demand it!) we would not have societies at all. We'd be individualistic animals, or at best small tribes. >It's also dehumanizing You're completely wrong. People copying and following the path of others is one of the reasons we've dominated earth. Only a very small portion of us are risk takers that make new…

Humans are messy and sub-optimal. Optimization processes will always favor robotic adherence to optimal characteristics which means, unless constrained, our humanity is on the chopping block.

There’s a reason phrases like “worker bee” have become common, it’s because people feel like they’re expected to be drones at work instead of humans.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#127

Post by cs702 »

Well, I for one don't think everything is ugly.

Apple devices and stores look clean and elegant to me.

Tesla vehicles feel and look simple and beautiful to me.

If given a choice, I'd rather live in new buildings with bright, light-filled interiors than in old buildings with darker, mustier interiors.

I could provide more examples of things I don't think are ugly. The main point is this:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#128

Post by pixl97 »

bluetomcat wrote: post #92
CooCooCaCha wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call it capitalism, call it competition, call it an optimization process or w/e but this is a common phenomenon. Whenever you have people trying to maximize some value they'll copy the strategy they view as most successful and other factors take a back seat. Maximizing the resale value of a home involves making it appeal to the largest number of people. Adding character risks lowering demand by appealing to niche mar…

I see it as an “iphonification” of industrial design and architecture. White cars became trendy in the early 2010s, after the white iPhone 4. Every item that wants to be perceived as a quality one is targeting that minimalistic, uncluttered, quirk-free look.

I'm not really sure that's the issue... Even by 2000 color car popularity had began its drop with silver and black with the growing market. White did gain a lot of popularity then, but a lot of this was recovery from what it had lost in the early 90s.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/37001/this-graph-shows-how-car...

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#129

Post by I-M-S »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #89
user_7832 wrote: post #23

I’ve got a counterpoint: we finally have the time to breathe and actually notice the ugliness. You don’t care about looks in a time of war. You put a lot of effort into “looks” and loving well shortly after a war as a rebound “look now it’s so better” compensation. We’ve instead (mostly) plateaued, which, at a (mostly) global level isn’t necessarily bad. (Of course, if art is a reflection of present-day it’s not nece…

World War 3 has been going on since 2010. We are currently in one of history's times of great turbulence. (Most people lived through the fall of the Roman Empire and didn't even notice it.)

Why 2010 exactly?

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#130

Post by JadeNB »

cs702 wrote: post #127

Well, I for one don't think everything is ugly. Apple devices and stores look clean and elegant to me. Tesla vehicles feel and look simple and beautiful to me. If given a choice, I'd rather live in new buildings with bright, light-filled interiors than in old buildings with darker, mustier interiors. I could provide more examples of things I don't think are ugly. The main point is this: Beauty is in the eye of the be…

> Tesla vehicles look beautiful to me.

As you say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder—but, seriously, the Cybertruck as a thing of beauty? (This is from someone who actually liked the boxy car designs of old.)

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