The Role of Aesthetics in Progress and Innovation

Patrick Collison questions the growing importance of aesthetics in his thinking, observing a degradation of beauty in many everyday objects and a break with cultural continuity, particularly in modernist architecture. He suggests that this aesthetic regression could inhibit progress and innovation, unlike beauty which, according to Elaine Scarry, inspires creation. He cites historical examples like the World's Fairs to illustrate the past interdependence between aesthetics and material development.

The author also explores the idea of a "stuck culture" since the 90s, wondering if aesthetics plays a role in this phenomenon. He is interested in the reflexivity between supply and demand, where supply can shape demand, leading to objectively inferior but accepted market equilibria, such as the example of food in Germany. Finally, he highlights the potential of art as a mirror of society and the interest of computational analysis tools for visual arts, while concluding that the pursuit of beauty can be a driver of innovation and a marker of metaphysical coherence, as Solzhenitsyn suggested.