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UGLYBEAUTY


                                           December  2, 2003 
                                                                             
                                                                             
       If the ethical is                                                     
       esthetic at root         DESPERATE
                                                                             
          How do you deal                        PRETTY_TRUE 
          with that?                            
                                                                             
          What implications                                                  
          does it have?                                                      
                                   Is there any difference    
                                   between esthetics/aesthetics?    
   Is there a                      It's just a new and old form, right?
   compulsion to                                         
   do what is                        The Toadkeeper joked             
   esthetic?                         about this, making me          
                                     wonder if I've missed     
      An ethical                     a distinction.          Maybe the joke 
      compulsion?                                            is that the 
                                                             difference is  
                           ROUND_AND_ROUND                   only esthetic. 
  The meta-eval problem.                                                   
                                                                Or aesthetic. 
  Evaluating systems of        METHODICAL_PARADOX                            
  evalutations.                          
                               
  How do you decide if an                
  ethic and/or an            Pretty clearly: to talk             
  aesthetic is "good"?       this way presupposes                   
                             some existing standard.                      
                                                         
      What function do                  This may be okay:                    
      they serve?                       it is not possible,                  
                                        (nor does it seem                    
      The function of a                 desireable) to                       
      manifesto is to                   fabricate a set of                   
      provide guidance                  abstract values                      
      in the face of                    without reference                    
      chaos.                            to humanity.                         
                                                                             
      It's a stabilizer...                 The way we                        
                                           speak of it                       
      Intent is to encourage               often suggests                    
      you to maintain a given              a logical                          
      direction in the face of             edifice, a                        
      (hopefully) superficial              body of law                       
      obstacles.                           rooted in         The will of god;
                                           something else.   Human nature;    
          The opposite of                                    The mathematics 
          "adapatibility"                  A "category       of strategy     
                                           mistake"?                         
      Which is a clear sign that                                             
      you can overdo these things.             Another way out:                
                                               we tend to assume              
      Somewhere in there, there's              that all logical 
      a need for "balance", much               structures must                 
      as I hate such wishy-washy               be hierarchical.         
      conclusions.                                                             
                                                     There are other         
                                                     possibilities...          
                                                                           
                                                           RECURSIVE_DEFINITION
          Adaptive stability?       Rescue failure  
                                    with paradox.                  
                                                                   
                                         Re-state the 
                                         contradiction
                                         as a hidden wisdom.       
                                    
                                                METHODICAL_PARADOX
                                                
  There's a                              
  trap here:                                  
                                                
  If beauty is the only       
  real criterion then at                
  least some will try  
  for a beautiful evil.

Undermining conventional                
morality can become a                     
justification for the                     
immoral.                        
                                The invisible hand                 
   In the beginning             an excuse for turning        
   was the act.                 a blind eye.                 
                                                             
   Do as thou wilt.                The True Knowledge        
                                   of McCleod's            
   Nietzsche beget Nazis,          "Cassini Division".                
   though he would have                                     
   disowned such children.                                        
                              
            
         And in my own terms,    
         these outcomes from   
         attempts at defining    
         a new morality      
         are unaesthetic...   
                          
            There are ugly beautys.
                                             
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