On Beauty and Being Just

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Have been reading the recommended "On Beauty and Being Just" by Elaine Scarry. She argues that there is a continuum from physical beauty to mathematical symmetry and elegance to traffic laws to a representative democracy -- which is related to ancient Greek naval warfare, fwiw. It's vaguely utopian, in the sense that she seems to suggest that universal is enough, and the cranky shadows in the basement don't really enter the book. As a programmer into the aesthetics of code, I find this absolutist view sort of inspiring, though mucking around with steampunk Ruby makes me think that perhaps beauty and fun don't always share the same trireme...?