Rather than comment on individual posts, I'll offer some general
comments.
a) We are genetically pre-wired for a concept of "beauty".
b) Since this is probably a multi-factorial genetic preference,
there is probably some Poisson distribution for how strong
it is in different individuals.
c) More than likely some people have experiences that will cause
them to reject their built-in preferences (I for example
was told in the 4th Grade that I'd get my face rearranged
if I continued an infaturation with a cute blonde girl who was
also liked by one of the class pack leaders. To this day
blondes don't do much for me).
d) To some degree we rely on "agents" to tailor our tastes.
We seem amazingly susceptible to fashion or entertainment industry
dictates as to the clothes and people who we consider "beautiful".
I suspect this is an efficiency mechanism. You get points for
creating interesting "looks". Failing that, you get points for
being able to buy interesting "looks". Failing that, you should
at least conform to the predominant "looks". Since most of us don't
have the expertise or time to do this as a full time profession we
"punt" to the extent that we match how we appear to those around us.
e) Uniforms (fitting into the crowd) are alive and well in most
cultures and sub-cultures. You don't see many Wall St. investment
bankers running around in Gap chinos and you don't see many SiVal
investment bankers running around in suits (except for closings).
Every subculture has a range of what is boring, accepted, creative
and outrageous.
f) When we upload you are still going to have the problem of
how you "appear". Its just going to be much more flexible.
Robert
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