number aesthetics

by phil on Tuesday Apr 29, 2003 9:17 PM
aesthetics_old

Basically, this would be a discussion on the aesthetics of numbers. (See previous "review of mundanes")

Like, there's a reason why he's called 007 and not 004 let's say.

2 is even, a solid duality, it feels simple, nice. 2 plans, 2 strategies, a forward and backup, a left and right.

3 is more for conviction, three points, three arguments, a argument, counter-argument, and resolution.

4 is never good for lists, good for maybe armies, we have four armies, three major points and a backup fourth one, four you're beginning to see plentitude, also seeing evenness, wholes.

5 is for handfuls, you have 5 really good ideas for you, 5 bucks vs. 4 sounds much more than 3 bucks vs. 2.

6 unsure about that one, not used often

7 of course lucky seven, if you have 7 of anything, you have more than enough. 7, since it's lack of divisibility, seems like the odd one out, if I said I had 7 friends vs. 8, there'd be a subtle oddness to it.

8 is the mega number. The largest number out of all of them.

9 is like almost 10, the not good enough number, just there, but not quite, yet sneaky because it's the underdog.

10 is like the million or hundred, it's the digit multiplier, the thing where you have have a plentitude of something, more than enough to be satisfied with. If I have 10 bucks in my pocket, I'm set.

Oh yeah, 1, 1 is like lonely, only, but still a hero. Beatles 1 album, great songs.

And zero, of course, you see a zero, that's defeat, emptiness. Zero solutions, nothingness. I think 0 is feared the most out of all the numbers.

A good way to access the aesthetics of the number is to draw the number really big on a piece of paper and see what you feel when you look at it, from a shape-aesthetics point of view. A big 7 on a sheet of paper, well, it looks sleek, like an arrow. And a big 8, that looks like a lot. And big 10, that looks like, congratulations, you're a winner. ad infinitum.