Astral Codex Ten Podcast

Three Model Organisms For Taste


Listen Later

(a continuation of yesterday's post)

Reddit Vexillology

Vexillology is the c. elegans of aesthetics - the simplest model organism that lets us observe dynamics of interest. I haven't read enough MFA books to do more than relay the thoughts of my betters, and you probably haven't either. But anyone can have opinions on flags.

If you're like me, you learned the following code of good flags:

  1. They should be so simple that a child could draw them.
  2. No images, no "busy" areas, and - for God's sake - no text
  3. The rule of tincture: "never put metal on metal, or color on color". In medieval heraldry, "metals" were yellow and white (sometimes implemented with literal gold and silver) and "colors" were every other color (except black, which is a "fur" and has its own rules). A good flag shouldn't have a metal touch another metal, or a color touch another color. So the French tricolor (blue then white then red) is okay, but a hypothetical (blue then red then white) tricolor wouldn't be okay, because blue would be touching red, which would be "color on color".

Every so often, a US state will decide that its flag is politically incorrect and sponsor a contest to design a new one. Then online vexillologists will go over the entries, savaging any that violate the code. "Look how busy this one is! It has four different colors!" "Oh god, this one literally included text! Can you believe it!" They'll moan and scowl and ask why everyone can't be more like Indonesia. Good old Indonesia, they know how to follow the rules:

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Astral Codex Ten PodcastBy Jeremiah

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

129 ratings


More shows like Astral Codex Ten Podcast

View all
Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,110 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,116 Listeners

Very Bad Wizards by Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Very Bad Wizards

2,672 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,254 Listeners

EconTalk by Russ Roberts

EconTalk

4,270 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,448 Listeners

The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury

The Glenn Show

2,271 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

890 Listeners

ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

ChinaTalk

292 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,168 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by The Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin

Your Undivided Attention

1,625 Listeners

Last Week in AI by Skynet Today

Last Week in AI

316 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,819 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

577 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

691 Listeners