Beauty, Complexity, and Theory of Everything

 Beauty, Complexity, and Theory of Everything

By: Megha Jain  


On her 18th birthday, Emily set out on a mission to purchase her dream car, much like her friends, who all owned their cars. For Emily and her friends, buying a car seemed simple; it did not require much thinking. The only criteria she had for her dream car was to possess every aesthetic quality possible. The prettier the car is, the better her purchase is. Little did she know that her quest for a perfect car would lead her to the realization connected to the Theory of Everything.

 

The Theory of Everything is a theoretical concept in physics that seeks to unite all fundamental forces and particles into a single, cohesive framework. The idea of one theory explaining every phenomenon in the world appears odd to me. Still, many physicists are drawn to this idea because they recognize beauty in the fundamental principles of nature. According to a study conducted by Brandon Vaidyanathan, which surveyed nearly 3,500 scientists, 75 percent of them find beauty in the objects and phenomena they study. This beauty entails the symmetries, simplicity, and complexity found in nature.

 







When discussing the Theory of Everything, many physicists are drawn to it because they desire the laws of nature to be elegant. They believe when we talk about theories or objects being pretty or elegant - society wants it to be simple, they want it to be natural, they want it to be easily understood, so they have an idea of what they want to be true. In other words, they believe that beneath the universe's underlying complexities lies an inherent simplicity, representing a universal truth.

 

However, Sabine Hossenfelder, a profound scientist, believes otherwise. She argues that the pursuit of beauty is not a reliable strategy for evaluating the validity of scientific theories, and I could not have agreed with her even more. She states, "Nature clearly doesn't give a damn what physicists think is pretty math." The notion that scientific theories should be simple, pretty, and easy to understand oversimplifies the intricate nature of science. Science, at its core, is a discipline that seeks to unravel the mysteries of the world, which are often convoluted. Demanding that scientific theories conform to simplicity and aesthetics challenges the essence of scientific exploration. 

 

Moreover, the idea that beauty is a universal concept is not new to us. Immanuel Kant, a well-known philosopher, believed that judgments of beauty have a universal quality- meaning that while an individual's taste may vary, there is a shared sense of beauty that can be agreed upon by humans. Yet, science relies on objective and measurable variables to ensure accuracy, replicability, and self-correcting, whereas beauty remains a subjective and complex concept that defies what science truly does. Therefore, using the concept of beauty in science, in general, seems problematic.

 


A study done by Luis F. Martinez, a professor of behavioral science, revealed that aesthetic properties influence consumers' car-buying decisions. The study found that visual elements are more influential than texture or sound. As seen in the image above, the exterior and interior shapes have the most lines connected, showing how aesthetics influence an individual's buying decisions. This illustrates that even when buying cars, aesthetics play a major role, even though that should not be the case. Feasibility, utility, and convenience are more important. 

 

As Emily's journey unfolds, she encounters one stunning car after another, each seemingly perfect in its aesthetics. Yet she discovers that each beauty comes with its own set of limitations, a Ferrari, too large for her garage, or a Lamborghini, challenging the practicality of luxury, questioning where she will place all her large sports equipment. The pursuit of beauty mirrors the complexity of choosing a scientific theory, the Theory of Everything, as appearance and simplicity can be deceiving. How can the Theory of Everything inculcate all the complexities of the world so simply and be the ultimate truth? 

 

Ultimately, Emily decides to postpone her car purchase for a year to save money, realizing that the quest for a car, much like the search for scientific truth, is far simpler and often filled with complexities than initially perceived. 

 

I understand that while this may not be a perfect analogy, it reflects humans' tendencies toward wanting a simple, pretty solution to a problem in life when, in reality, the world tends to create complex situations.  


 


















Citation: 


Atef, Nagwaeen & Abdul Rahman, Julaila & Mohd Din, Shamzani & Kamarudin, Zumahiran. (2023). Characteristics of Cabin Design for Female-Friendly Car. 10.1007/978-981-19-8024-4_32.  

Hossenfelder, S. (2020, July 1). Do we need a theory of everything?. Backreaction. http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2020/07/do-we-need-theory-of-everything.html    


Vaidyanathan, B. (2023, April 6). Beauty in Science. USC Dornsife. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/2023/04/06/beauty-in-science/

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