Aesthetics

3 articles
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    The Argument Against Terraforming Mars

    When it comes to the ethics of actions, such as the decision to terraform Mars, we should ask: What sort of person would do that—a virtuous or vicious one?Photograph by Kees Veenenbos / Science Photo Library In Kim Stanley Robinson’s science-fiction Mars Trilogy, human colonists “terraform” Mars, turning the rocky red planet into a lush […]
  • friends and music

    Some Music Is Inherently Bad—But People Can Be Convinced Otherwise

    Artistic appreciation is a deeply subjective process, perhaps the most essentially personal thing that humans do. But are there some explanations for why we like what we do? Why, for instance, does a particular song get popular?Some of it has to do with the quality of the music—and by quality, I mean that there’s something […]
  • The Abduction of Europa

    Finding the Perfect Amount of Creativity in Cars & Religion

    There is only a certain level of novelty that most people are willing to tolerate.