blah. pointless, self-important pointification from a self-described “libertarian” and, thusly, a natural born contrarian.

anyone who links so vociferously to Instapundit/idiot from her own blog invalidates whatever opinions she claims as her own.

at least reason.com is well designed.

As consumers of so much marketed to so many, I believe we’re seduced and deluded in ways we don’t even recognize. I question whether we’re really more sophisticated consumers of “aesthetics” and “smart design”, or just better-trained sheep.

I’m all for //smart & pretty// when it produces value; don’t make me pay for “pretty” in my plumbing or circuitry. Too much for too little. A little restraint, please.

P.S. – The Honeywell thermostat Postrel rails against in her Forbes FYI article was replaced by a new generation of “easy-to-use” devices. Or maybe not; in Dec 2005, from the pulpit of his daily talk show, Regis Philbin screamed his frustration with his new Honeywell programmable thermostat….

Aesthetic value isn’t something that is exists in stasis. Knowledge grows from the beginning of our mind, to its end. A valuation of beauty, and lack thereof, must to be granted a life expectancy and a waxing and waning, a growth period. You can’t simply adhere to one line of ability throughout years and years of practice, without some graduation of exponential increase in knowledge. And Appreciation is one form of knowledge, so yes, Aesthetic Value is something that most certainly can grow, brainiac.