Art

It may initially seem strange to list this as one of the most important parts of humanity, but, as we will see, it is fundamentally important to us and is one of the highest forms of complexity that exists.

You probably listen to music and have favorite things you like to hear. But have you ever wondered why you like it? We might disagree on what is a favorite, but we can all tell the difference between music and someone just playing random notes on an instrument. Our minds naturally seek out an order and beauty around us.

Consider for a moment what is at the heart of art. Playing random notes or splatting paint on a canvas is not art to us (we’ll ignore some bizarre performance art for this explanation). So, what is happening at the root of it all? We are naturally wired to seek order. Art takes the chaos of possible colors and notes and composes them into something orderly for us to enjoy. So, you can consider at the heart of art is humanity’s natural instinct to create complexity around themselves. They do this because they enjoy it. They are creatures steeped in Q4P and driven by it.

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That leads us into the equally important part of art, not just our ability to create it but our ability to comprehend it. On the surface, it may seem impressive enough that we have minds that can seek and find order in the universe. But that is a purely mechanistic view of something that is far greater. Humanity is capable of recognizing the artistic beauty within art as well.

To be clear, beauty and complexity are not the same thing. Complexity is purely mechanical. Beauty is driven by something less concrete and more ephemeral. This is something physics cannot account for and only metaphysics can, but no one can deny the actual existence of beauty. It may be emotionally driven, but it is definitely real.

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