Beauty

   O-'"'-.__.-'"'-.__.-'"'-.__.-'"'-.__.-O

   Beauty is the quality of being extremely appealing and pleasing. Though
   the word will likely invoke association with traditional [1]art, in
   [2]technology, [3]engineering, [4]mathematics and other [5]science beauty
   is, despite it's relative vagueness and subjectivity, an important aspect
   of design, and in fact this "mathematical beauty" has lots of times some
   clearly defined shapes -- for example [6]simplicity is mostly considered
   beautiful. Beauty is similar to and many times synonymous with
   [7]elegance.

   Beauty can perhaps be seen as a [8]heuristic, a touch of intuition that
   guides the expert in exploration of previously unknown fields, as we have
   come to learn that the greatest discoveries tend to be very beautiful
   (however there is also an opposite side: some people, such as Sabine
   Hossenfelder, criticize e.g. the pursuit of beautiful theories in modern
   physics as this approach seems to be have led to stagnation). Indeed,
   beginners and [9]noobs are mostly concerned with learning hard facts,
   learning standards and getting familiar with already known ways of solving
   known problems, they often aren't able to recognize what's beautiful and
   what's ugly. But as one gets more and more experienced and finds himself
   near the borders of current knowledge, there is suddenly no guidance but
   intuition, beauty, to suggest ways forward, and here one starts to get the
   feel for beauty. At this point the field, even if highly exact and
   rigorous, has become an [10]art.

   What is beautiful then? As stated, there is a lot of subjectivity, but
   generally the following attributes are correlated with beauty:

     * [11]simplicity/[12]minimalism, typically finding simplicity in
       complexity, e.g. a very short formula or algorithm that describes an
       infinitely complex [13]fractal shape, a simple but valuable equation
       in physics (e = m * c^2), a short computer program that yields rich
       results ([14]demoscene, [15]code golfing, [16]suckless, [17]minimal
       viable program, ...).
     * deepness -- if something very simple, let's say a single small
       equation, has consequences and implications that may be studied into
       great depth, for example [18]prime numbers.
     * generality, i.e. if a simple equation can describe many problems, not
       just a specific case.
     * lack of exceptions, i.e. when our equation works without having to
       deal with special cases (in programming represented by if-then
       branches).
     * [19]symmetry, i.e. when we can e.g. swap variables in the equation and
       get some kind of opposite result.
     * unification, or when multiple other beautiful things meet, for example
       the [20]Euler's identity brings together into one equation the most
       important numbers in mathematics: i, pi, 1 and 0.
     * [21]self containment, describing itself, applying to itself, not
       depending on other things
     * aesthetics, either of the equation itself (or for example the source
       code) or the generated object ([22]fractals, attractors, ...).
     * TODO

   Examples of beautiful things include:

     * Euler's identity, an equation often cited as the most beautiful in
       mathematics: e^{ipi} + 1 = 0*. It is simple and contains many of the
       most important numbers: e, pi, i 1 and 0.
     * [23]minimalist software, [24]Unix philosophy
     * [25]fractals TODO
     * [26]bytebeat

Links:
1. art.md
2. technology.md
3. engineering.md
4. math.md
5. science.md
6. kiss.md
7. elegance.md
8. heuristic.md
9. noob.md
10. art.md
11. minimalism.md
12. minimalism.md
13. fractal.md
14. demoscene.md
15. golf.md
16. suckless.md
17. minimal_viable_program.md
18. prime.md
19. symmetry.md
20. eulers_identity.md
21. self_hosting.md
22. fractal.md
23. suckless.md
24. unix_philosophy.md
25. fractal.md
26. bytebeat.md