7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

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jay_chang
YOYO member
文章: 4
註冊時間: 週五 6月 01, 2018 2:44 pm

7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 jay_chang »

Hi everyone, this is Jay. Long time no see. I took a trip to Europe for a month earlier this year. I guess someone will definitely jump out and yell Mamba Mentality. But today there are no more Mamba Mentality OK~. We’re going to discuss beauty on 7/21.
Cuz during this trip, my girlfriend and I saw lots of amazing, astonishing, charming, dazzling, epic, fantastic, magnificent, grand, glamorous, gorgeous, picturesque, spectacular, stunning, breathtaking, eye-opening and awe-inspiring...landscape.
And I saw lots of scientist statues and graves of well-known physicists who came up with physical equations which had major, famous, powerful, important, significant, great import, profound change, momentous change, life-changing and far-reaching influence.
For physics fans like me, Europe is really a place of pilgrimage, just like Muslims try to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

My girlfriend always says to me: sceneries are so beautiful.
But in my heart of hearts, equations are so beautiful, too.

That's why I would like to share photos taken during my trip to Europe in session 1, and in session 2, we will discuss the definition of beauty.

Please refer to the two TED videos below.
A Darwinian theory of beauty:
https://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_ ... _of_beauty
How your brain decides what is beautiful:
https://www.ted.com/talks/anjan_chatter ... _beautiful

In video1, I can't completely accept that even the simplest things like beauty need a theory to be explained. However, no matter you agree with it or not, you are all welcome to join our meeting. Because ACCEPTING and EMBRACING interesting and different opinions are the best part of YOYO, which is also why YOYO can sustain for so long. And please imagine a picture of Luis and David having a heated debate, in a comical way, while everyone else is fascinated and listen with relish......XD

In video 2, I have some additional info and summary to share:

Francis Galton (1822-1911) is a brilliant polymath. In one speech he presents a new technique by which he can combine photographs and produce composite portraits. This technique could be used to characterize different types of people. Galton thinks that if he combines photographs of violent criminals, he will discover the face of criminality.

But to his surprise, the composite portrait that he produces is beautiful. Here’s the million-dollar question: What is beauty ? Why do certain configurations of line and color and form excite us so?

In his mind, it was an extension of the statistical techniques of averages and correlation. It represents one of the first implementations of convolution factor analysis and neural networks (CNN) in the understanding of knowledge representation in the human mind.

Many experiments have shown that a few basic parameters contribute to what makes a beautiful face attractive. These include averaging, symmetry and the effects of hormones:

1. Galton found that composite or average faces are typically more attractive than each individual face which contributes to the average faces. This is because the genes that contribute to composite or average faces has been evened out as a result of multiple replications. Average faces represent the central tendencies of a group. People with mixed features represent different populations, and presumably harbor greater genetic diversity and adaptability to the environment.

2. People generally find symmetric faces more attractive than asymmetric ones. Developmental abnormalities are often associated with asymmetries. And in plants, animals and humans, asymmetries often arise from parasitic infections. Symmetry, as it turns out, is also an indicator of health. (Max factor brand story)

3. The third factor that contributes to facial attractiveness is the effect of hormones. Estrogen and Testosterone play important roles in shaping features that we find attractive. Estrogen produces features that signal fertility.

So what happens in the brain when we see beautiful people? According to brain neuroscience, attractive faces activate parts of our visual cortex in the back of the brain, an area called the fusiform gyrus, that is especially tuned to processing faces, and an adjacent area called the lateral occipital complex, which is especially attuned to processing objects. In addition, attractive faces activate parts of our reward and pleasure centers in the front and deep part of the brain.

Summary:
Our visual brain that is tuned to processing faces interacts with our pleasure centers to underpin the experience of beauty. These beauty detectors ping the brain every time we see beauty, regardless of whatever else we might be thinking. We also have a "beauty is good" stereotype embedded in the brain. Because within the orbitofrontal cortex, there's overlapping neural activity in response to beauty and to goodness, and this happens even when people aren't explicitly thinking about beauty or goodness. Our brains seem to reflexively associate beauty with good. Attractive people have all kinds of advantages in life. (人帥真好)XD

These kinds of observations reveal beauty's ugly side. Unfortunately, we also have a "disfigured is bad" stereotype. This stereotype is probably exploited and magnified by images in popular media, in which facial disfigurement is often used as a shorthand to depict someone of villainous character. We need to understand these kinds of implicit biases if we are to overcome them and aim for a society in which we treat people fairly, based on their behavior and not on the happenstance of their looks.

Questions for Discussion:
Session 2
1. Have you experienced beauty through mind, body, or soul? Like what the video said, a baby's face, Berlioz's "Harold in Italy," movies like "The Wizard of Oz," or the plays of Chekhov, a central California landscape, a Hokusai view of Mt. Fuji, "Der Rosenkavalier," a stunning match-winning goal in a World Cup soccer match, Van Gogh's "Starry Night," a Jane Austen novel, and Fred Astaire dancing across the screen. Please share your experience.

2. Who's your favorite superstar and do you think they are a beauty in your eyes? E.g. Female beauty like Anne Hathaway, Gal Gadot, 張鈞甯...or male beauty (showing masculinity) like Hugh Jackman, Keanu Reeves. If you had a chance to have plastic surgery (100% no side effects), which part of your body would you like change the most? Will you want to look like your favorite idol(s)? Why or why not?

3. Do you know about the golden ratio ? If you don't, there is another TED talk about the Fibonacci numbers and golden ratio:
https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjam ... uage=zh-tw
The golden ratio exists in many things in nature-the architecture, plants, human's DNA structure, and even Apple's logo. Do you believe the things where the golden ratio can be found are more beautiful? Why or why not?

4. Have you ever had a similar experience to this: You were not in a very good mood (or probably just had a pain in the back or an aching tooth), hence the expression on your face wasn't very pleasant. Whoever saw you-a clerk, a friend, a stranger treated you badly due to the scowl on your face, even if you didn't mean it in your heart? Please share your experience.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
3:50 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:20pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:20 ~ 5:00pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
5:00 ~ 5:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:20 ~ 5:30pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:30~ 6:10pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:10~ 6:30pm Summarization / Concluding Remarks / Announcements(20 mins)
********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期:列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間:請準時 4:00 pm 到 ~ 約 6:30 pm 左右結束
星期六聚會地點:丹堤濟南店
地址、電話:台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站:板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法:出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後,沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘,到了濟南路口,左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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Georgia
YOYO member
文章: 480
註冊時間: 週三 11月 07, 2007 11:49 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Georgia »

Very informative...I learned a lot!
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Rock
YOYO member
文章: 2162
註冊時間: 週三 10月 31, 2007 9:03 am

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Rock »

Hey, Doctor J, good job! Both the choice of topic and the interpretation are wonderfully made. I see human skills in your work. That's beauty. :lol:

This is a topic for everybody. We all know beauty and we all appreciate beauty, yet our understanding of it seem not be the same. I guess people will have a lot to say in your meeting. Thank you for bring up this interesting topic and all the materials for discussion.

I guess you are still building the questions for session one. Keep on going.
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Kooper
YOYO member
文章: 2725
註冊時間: 週三 4月 11, 2007 11:40 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Kooper »

The two TED talks seem to focus on beauty that are "in the eye of the beholder." Here I would like to share beauty that touches us in another form. For instance, when it comes to "Starry Night," Don McLean's classic song just came to my mind...

Sherry Liao
YOYO member
文章: 1483
註冊時間: 週五 12月 07, 2007 12:15 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Sherry Liao »

Rock 寫:I guess you are still building the questions for session one. Keep on going.
Not sure but I guess Jay will share his travel experiences and photos in session one, and we will have a discussion in session two?

jay_chang 寫:That's why I would like to share photos taken during my trip to Europe in session 1, and in session 2, we will discuss the definition of beauty.
Janice Wang
YOYO member
文章: 79
註冊時間: 週六 3月 25, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Janice Wang »

Jay, your outpouring of excitement for the exploration and encountering of the Europe journey is widely permeating in your opening remarks. Thanks for sharing and showing us your passion for physics.

To answer your questions, on your Euro trip, your girl was amazed by the picturesque sceneries, your eyes and heart were taken away by all the equations-related beauty, and I’m sure many other passing-by tourists probably got overwhelmed by the beauty of haute couture and high-end luxuries. It proves that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. My recent experience was a moving beauty, and also enjoyment to be mesmerized by a French soccer player, Kylian Mbappé ‘s amazing dribbling skills and speed. Glad to witness his beautiful skills shine through in this year’s FIFA.

Now, to set our sight on a risk-free surgery to carve out a face or parts of our favourite superstars. I assume we are talking about their ‘prime’ looks here. My concern is how they and a plastic surgery infused doppelgänger would look like 20 or 30 years later. Nevertheless, I’ll still consider giving it a try if it’s also cost-free as I figure mine is gonna be a large-scale makeover!

Speaking of the golden ratio, I do think it is a ubiquitous nature existing in our life, just like the concept of fairness, equality, and balance to be demanded and appreciated by humans. Has it to be three dimensions? Can YOYO meetings being perfectly arranged on Tuesday and Saturday serve as an example of the golden ratio?

To wrap it up, I always believe that once we open our minds and widen our eyes, all sorts of beauty will be just at our fingertips. Luckily, advanced imaging and data technology help record the beauty we came across; hope someday we will also be able to record and save the sensational feeling of experiencing beauty.

Jay, good luck with your debut!
最後由 Janice Wang 於 週三 5月 20, 2020 10:13 pm 編輯,總共編輯了 3 次。
Kooper
YOYO member
文章: 2725
註冊時間: 週三 4月 11, 2007 11:40 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Kooper »

I believe that whether we humans really view golden ratio as more eye-catching can be examined in a scientific way, just like how scientists analyzed and put attractive faces down to three factors. What confuses me is that even though the golden-ratio theory has been widely perceived, why many of man-made goods today still ignore this principle? A case in point, the mainstream screen, 16:9, does not sit perfectly at the golden ratio, not to mention its predecessor the 4:3 display, which had dominated TV and PC display markets for many decades. My wild guess is that maybe human beings don’t intuitively prefer the golden ratio to others.
Kooper
YOYO member
文章: 2725
註冊時間: 週三 4月 11, 2007 11:40 pm

Re: 7/21 (Sat) Share European trip & The Beauty (Host: Jay)

文章 Kooper »

Attendees(21): Amy, Apple, David Jr., Felicidad, Gloria, Jay(host), John Huang, Joseph Yu, Kooper, Leon, Light, Luis, Michael, Momo, Ramesh, Sabrina, Sherry Liao, Stephen Chiu, Tina, Vicky Wu(JDG), Yaya
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