Friday, February 14, 2003

More on Symmetry Continuing our look at symmetry in art, and how it references something "special"- Symmetry gives one positive feelings, (based on basic natural order, refrenceing human form, inner contemplation, platoinic ideal) and thus is a symbol of beauty. The Symbol of Beauty Tom Coffin More evidence for the positive aspects of being symmetric. Symmetric animal is healthier and more desirable as a mate. Horses that are more symmetric run faster, asymmetric swallows are less likely to get mates, symmetic males are more likely to sire more babies. Dr. Karl. Indeed, tests have been done that show people tend to think more highly of folks with symetrical faces. ...and then there is the International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry 11:40:49 PM

Symmetry as Metaphor Continuing our look at techniques the visual arts uses to identify something as special, let's look more in depth at symmetry as metaphor- When examining a symmetric object the observer changes perspective, say from the left field to the right field. The two fields are appear to be the same. They are congruent. (I take some of these ideas from M Chester's Mathematical Structure of Identity.) The total object could be seen as something that is refering to itself. In that way it is affirming it's own identity. This can also be seen an object demonstrating that it is distinct from the viewer. The perception of an object displaying self-reference posits an external viewer. The world tends towards the disorganization caused by entropy. Something symmetrical shows not only a lack of disorganization (the two areas testify to the organization of the other) but of the input of energy necessary to create an organization and maintian its symmetrical state. We understand the two areas may degrade in a similar fashion, but this would still acknowledge the underlying organization. Symmetry allows the mind to see a repeated pattern and allows it to extrapolate to the infinite. The Infinite as multiplicity. As Joseph S. Johnson notes in MIND AND THE QUANTUM LAW OF EVOLUTION there is also the Essential Symmetry of the universe before it began. There was an undifferetiated wholeness. The Infinte as sameness. to be continued....deunitnoc eb ot 4:16:09 PM