Humanity makes beautiful those things that will kill, destroy, or harm it.
One of the coolest museum exhibits I ever saw was medieval weaponry. The quality of the craftsmanship of the armor and the weapons was truly beautiful. True, not every sword in the world looks nice, but a lot of them do. In modern times, guns are similar—they are often quite beautiful when you see them in person.
Some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been have been wineries—places dedicated to making a substance that poisons people. (Sorry, alcohol is poisonous–it’s why it gets you intoxicated. It’s a toxin.) Hard alcohol bottles are often works of art.
Candy and desserts are almost always beautifully done.
We go even further than this, and we celebrate success by giving people things that are bad for them. If things are getting better for them, we celebrate with sugar and alcohol. “You did great, so here’s something bad for you.”
True, there are beautiful things in the world that are pure good, or at least neutral. There are many awesome works of art, architecture, literature, music, etc. However, most of those were created by determined individuals who wanted to break the mold. In fact, I suspect that if you just let a group of human beings follow their natural tendencies (requiring them to act as a group with minimal individual thought, and with individual creative expression suppressed) the only things they will make beautiful will be those things that are harmful to themselves or to humanity.
There’s no particular moral to this one. It’s just an observation that frequently strikes me that I thought I would share with all of you. That’s all.
Max Kanat-Alexander 