In Scott Alexander’s post “Wither Tartaria”, Scott contrasts a popular modern æsthetic—with clean edges and simple textures—with an æsthetic popular in days of yore—with detailed patterns and lifelike minutiae. Scott implicitly takes the position that the older style is better than the newer, but has inexplicably fallen out of fashion.
I am of a different mind- I genuinely like the æsthetic that Scott bemoans, and in particular, I find that it evokes feelings of futurism, utopia, and techno-optimism. For me, there is no mystery why the newer æsthetic is so prevalent in this day and age- but it can be an interesting topic about why this futuristic æsthetic has come to supplant the older æsthetic.
In Scott Alexander’s post “Wither Tartaria”, Scott contrasts a popular modern æsthetic—with clean edges and simple textures—with an æsthetic popular in days of yore—with detailed patterns and lifelike minutiae. Scott implicitly takes the position that the older style is better than the newer, but has inexplicably fallen out of fashion.
I am of a different mind- I genuinely like the æsthetic that Scott bemoans, and in particular, I find that it evokes feelings of futurism, utopia, and techno-optimism. For me, there is no mystery why the newer æsthetic is so prevalent in this day and age- but it can be an interesting topic about why this futuristic æsthetic has come to supplant the older æsthetic.