Re: Artists and Engineers

From: Ian Goddard (igoddard@erols.com)
Date: Sat Oct 26 1996 - 23:31:01 MDT


At 02:52 AM 10/27/96 GMT, Dr. Rich Artym wrote:

> For the engineer, the aesthetic of fulfilling those certain functions is
> very secondary to the fulfillment of the functions themselves, so much so
> that the aesthetic is often totally submerged.

IAN: That is a logical distinction. We can say that the esthetic pleasure
and the utility of given activities may be distributed across a fuzzy scale:

        U A/E E
        100-0 50/50 0-100
        |-----------------|-----------------|
        Utility Esthetic pleasure

Functions that are "artful" are those that tend toward 100% E.

Functions that are "utilitarian" tend toward all-U.

Functions that are fuzzy are a little of both,
and most are fuzzy.

TO the degree that art has economic value, it posses a
degree of utility no matter how esthetic it is thought to be.
Where a given activity falls on this scale is purely subjective.

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