
Mathematical Beauty and Darwin's Paradox
01/24/23 • 19 min
Bob explains to X the alien what beauty is and how it’s measured (is it?). They get into a discussion about what is considered beautiful and what is the usefulness of beauty (if any). Is there math behind beauty? What is considered beautiful in Curio? These and many more questions are waiting for you, so join Bob and X in this beautiful discovery episode.
X is an alien that has chosen to do its PhD on "Habits and Behaviors of Multicellular Neural Pre-Enlightenment Organisms'', which includes humans. Bob is helping X with its PhD by answering its questions about human behavior, social norms, and culture.
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Anchor: https://anchor.fm/itscomplicatedbobx
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobandxpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itscomplicatedbobx/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Its-Complicated-Podcast-105244915647686
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itscomplicateditshuman
Sources:
History of Cosmetics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cosmetics#:~:text=The%20first%20cosmetics%20appeared%205%2C000,antimony%2Dbased%20paint%20as%20eyeliner.
Eyeliners and Egyptian cosmetics: https://recipes.hypotheses.org/12837#:~:text=Religious%20Importance&text=Egyptians%20also%20exaggerated%20their%20eyes,Evil%20Eye%20(Tapsoba%20et%20al., https://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/get-the-facts/a-history-of-cosmetics-from-ancient-times/
Skin Color and Beauty Standards: https://thesciencesurvey.com/spotlight/2022/04/24/skin-color-and-beauty-standards-a-history/
Japanese White Teeth: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/did-you-know-medieval-japan-white-teeth-were-ugly-women-campagna/
Darwin and Wallace: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwvpsg8/revision/1
Beauty in the Animal Kingdom: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/magazine/beauty-evolution-animal.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_choice
Major Histocompatibility Complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_complex
The Golden Ratio: https://plus.maths.org/content/myths-maths-golden-ratio
Facial Symmetry and the Perception of Beauty: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225775645_Facial_Symmetry_and_the_Perception_of_Beauty
Bob explains to X the alien what beauty is and how it’s measured (is it?). They get into a discussion about what is considered beautiful and what is the usefulness of beauty (if any). Is there math behind beauty? What is considered beautiful in Curio? These and many more questions are waiting for you, so join Bob and X in this beautiful discovery episode.
X is an alien that has chosen to do its PhD on "Habits and Behaviors of Multicellular Neural Pre-Enlightenment Organisms'', which includes humans. Bob is helping X with its PhD by answering its questions about human behavior, social norms, and culture.
Follow us on Social Media!
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/itscomplicatedbobx
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/its_complicated_its_human
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobandxpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itscomplicatedbobx/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Its-Complicated-Podcast-105244915647686
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itscomplicateditshuman
Sources:
History of Cosmetics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cosmetics#:~:text=The%20first%20cosmetics%20appeared%205%2C000,antimony%2Dbased%20paint%20as%20eyeliner.
Eyeliners and Egyptian cosmetics: https://recipes.hypotheses.org/12837#:~:text=Religious%20Importance&text=Egyptians%20also%20exaggerated%20their%20eyes,Evil%20Eye%20(Tapsoba%20et%20al., https://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/get-the-facts/a-history-of-cosmetics-from-ancient-times/
Skin Color and Beauty Standards: https://thesciencesurvey.com/spotlight/2022/04/24/skin-color-and-beauty-standards-a-history/
Japanese White Teeth: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/did-you-know-medieval-japan-white-teeth-were-ugly-women-campagna/
Darwin and Wallace: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwvpsg8/revision/1
Beauty in the Animal Kingdom: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/magazine/beauty-evolution-animal.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_choice
Major Histocompatibility Complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_complex
The Golden Ratio: https://plus.maths.org/content/myths-maths-golden-ratio
Facial Symmetry and the Perception of Beauty: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225775645_Facial_Symmetry_and_the_Perception_of_Beauty
Previous Episode

It's Complicated: It's Human! - TRAILER
Welcome to It's Complicated: It's Human! podcast.
How would you describe human behaviors to an alien? Bob and X the alien go in a trip to learn why humans do what they do. It will give you some food for thought as nothing is as simple as you think when explaining it to someone with no background on social and cultural norms! You will get a balanced mix of philosophical analysis, scientific facts and humor.
Next Episode

Valentine's Day and Running Away From Love
Bob explains to X the alien what Valentine’s Day is and why do humans celebrate the day of love...which brings them to explore what love is. How do you know you are actually feeling love and not something else? They get into a discussion about why we use hearts to represent love and what are the main love associations and why/if they make sense. Is love something good? Do they have love in Curio? These and many more questions are waiting for you, so join Bob and X in this lovely discovery episode.
X is an alien that has chosen to do its PhD on "Habits and Behaviors of Multicellular Neural Pre-Enlightenment Organisms'', which includes humans. Bob is helping X with its PhD by answering its questions about human behavior, social norms, and culture.
Follow us on Social Media!
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/itscomplicatedbobx
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/its_complicated_its_human
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobandxpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itscomplicatedbobx/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Its-Complicated-Podcast-105244915647686
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itscomplicateditshuman
Sources:
List of International Days: https://www.un.org/en/observances/list-days-weeks
Asteroid Day: https://www.un.org/en/observances/asteroid-day
Saint Valentine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine
Valentine’s Day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day
Life and Death of a Planet: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/life-and-death/chapter-6/#:~:text=When%20our%20Sun%20approaches%20its,once%20again%20begins%20to%20contract.
Love, Actually: The science behind lust, attraction, and companionship: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust-attraction-companionship
Misattribution of arousal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal
Yes, Love Can Be Measured and This is How: https://medium.com/brainchronicles/yes-love-can-be-measured-and-this-is-how-34d359224161
Scientists Try to Measure Love: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-feb-08-la-he-love8-2010feb08-story.html
The Top 10 Causes of Death: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
I know that I know Nothing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing
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