Intelligence VS Beauty

[LittleKitten]

LittleKitten, I think I have figured out where my problem is. What you're saying is that the things we consider to qualify a face as "beautiful" is a "blended look", but that the number of persons who have that look might be fewer. is that right?

Yes Madame Zora, you completely have it! Looking at the blended faces really helped me to grasp what Langlois and Roggman were suggesting. And yes, a perfectly averaged face is very rare. The suggestion is that it represents an ideal (exceptionally blended) genetic target for mating. I am not sure it is so important these days, as we are no longer tribal and have spread so far and wide as a species, but the emphasis on finding a mate with healthy genes still seems to be strongly with us. :smile:

LK

 

[madame_zora]

Wow, that was unnecessarily confusing for me! Haha, been out of school too long. The word "average" threw me off, but I get what they're saying now.

Frankly, I miss the days when healthy was considered beautiful, not that I ever lived in them. I remember reading something to that affect once when Bettie Page was being discussed, that was supposedly her appeal. I've always found the waif look somewhat repulsive for that very reason. Of course this doesn't fit well with my love for skinny guys, does it? :biggrin1:

 

[GoneA]

Of course this doesn't fit well with my love for skinny guys, does it? :biggrin1:

ooh oohhh ooohhh, *points to his body to show that he's skinny*

 

[madame_zora]

ooh oohhh ooohhh, *points to his body to show that he's skinny*

You're skinny AND beautiful. Looks like you made your appearance in just the right place.

 

[Shelby]

My wife is smoking hot and crazier than hell.
​

 

[madame_zora]

My wife is smoking hot and crazier than hell.

​

Yeah, but you really don't mind, do you?

 

[Shelby]

Yeah, but you really don't mind, do you?

Nope.

If the sea was calm and the sun was shining all the time I'd get bored.

 

[B_RoysToy]

Ah, attractiveness is overdetermined. I have known some exceptionally beautiful and intelligent women who were the most difficult people I've met. The combination of beauty, brains, loving, caring, self-aware, mindful, kind, and good in bed doesn't exist, in my experience. God knows I've looked hard for years.

With your negative experience, you make me appreciate my ex even more, HickBoy. At 24 I married a 19 year old beauty queen with a near genius IQ, who was the kindest, sweetest, most understanding, out-going and talented person I've ever known. After 29 years and three wonderful kids, I caused her to get rid of me. They are out there and I urge you to keep looking!

 

[B_RoysToy]

. . . . Give Donald Trump a bath and a big comb over
and ain't he pretty!

NO!

 

[Shelby]

With your negative experience, you make me appreciate my ex even more, HickBoy. At 24 I married a 19 year old beauty queen with a near genius IQ, who was the kindest, sweetest, most understanding, out-going and talented person I've ever known. After 29 years and three wonderful kids, I caused her to get rid of me. They are out there and I urge you to keep looking!

Sorry to hear about your split. But 29 years is a pretty good run.

A trip to Platinum Plus might help. Probably the most fun Gentlemen's club with the prettiest girls I've ever been to.

 

[B_RoysToy]

Sorry to hear about your split. But 29 years is a pretty good run.

Thanks, my friend. "A pretty good run", indeed. It was well worth the time and efforts!

Luke

 

[jaybee]

The ability to create art, music, or great literary and philosophical works adds cultural value to society. A new invention can save lives and a great piece of computer software can make life just a little more bearable. That's why "intelligence" is more important to the human race. It makes our existence better.

what you say there reminds me of the difference between jeramy bethams definition of utilitarianism contrasted with john stewart mills. Benthams was much more of a 'hedonistic' idea of utility, that society should seek to maximise the more if you like base pleasures i guess hehe wine, women and song, wheras mill seemed to value more 'intellectual' pleasures as being worthy of pursuit. I often wondered what an intellectual pleasure was when i first came accross it, i mean is it like once one deciphers a particularly difficult passage of hegel do they get a kinda pervy smile happening and think to oneself, mmmmmmmm just had an intellectual pleasure there lol.

anyhow getting more relavent with what you say above, id say that it all comes down to what is worthy of pursuit, ie beauty seems to apply more to that benthian description of utility whereas ur definition of value seems to accord with mills. So from a benthian perspective, you would be wrong, beuty is where it is at, but from a mill perspective youve got it sussed. I swing around both depending on my mood

 

[jaybee]

intresting debate between EG and K, I'd definately like to hear EGs counter argument, how old is this thread.

I know nothing about this issue really so i'll leave it to you two experts on it. I do get the feeling that the definition of human beauty does seem to have a class element to an extent. Certainly seems to be so when it comes to weight. Although that said, im just repeating a trite oft repeated thing, maybe one day i'll have the time and inclination to look into this issue more in depth.

Have either of you read 'the beauty myth'? What are your views on this?