I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume that since our brains are 99.9% the same, that there is an underlying physics which will predict why we find something beautiful. Look at the pop song hit-prediction software - it's been proven to be accurate up to a limit. That limit is probably a numerical valuation of the differences between humans due to nature & nurture.
But brains are very complex systems, so it doesn't take much to add a layer that scrambles the visual input, or have a set of experiences that add such extreme emotional value to a given stimulus that any low-level similarity is overcome. Even if they subconsciously recognize it as "beauty", another part of the brain is telling them it isn't. I had a visual theory in film prof at USC, Bruce Block, who claimed that the eye prefers areas of sharp contrast, because it has learned to use higher contrast patterns to discern danger. Those who preferred visual subtlety were eaten by tigers, I guess. But perhaps we've bred that idea back into commonness... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39063 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
