Thanks for this article. I think about these issues a lot, in various fields, and in various ways. My perception is that these issues extend well past regard for and appreciation of beauty, although that area is important.

The question is always "What do you consider to be of value, and why?" Most people have never really thought about this, and so social norms that are always lower common denominator or worse prevail.

One example of this is that there is social pressure to always consider money first, and few people are willing to state publicly that they have values that supersede monetary value, even though they may and often do. I see this everywhere.

For instance, I've known people who have made the decision to buy a full set of solar panels to power their home primarily because they thought it was the right thing to do regardless of the economics, but when they talk with other people they never mention that, and always just talk about the return on investment, even though that is not at all what they most care about. It's as though they're afraid of being judged negatively for not caring first of all and most of all about money.

Then there are the many counter examples of "beauty" being overlaid on ugly ideas. "Hey, let's just slap a nice design on this piece of crap to try to fool people into thinking it's actually good."

The list goes on.