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[@ChrisWillx] How Did The Modern World Get So Ugly? - Sheehan Quirke

· 7 min read
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@ChrisWillx - "How Did The Modern World Get So Ugly? - Sheehan Quirke"

Link: https://youtu.be/tOezS6uCGg8

Short Summary​

The video explores the meaning of beauty, arguing it's often overused and better understood as synonymous with love, manifesting physically. The speaker proposes using "interesting," "charming," and "meaningful" as more helpful and less inflammatory terms to describe the physical world, especially architecture and design, ultimately advocating for a more humane and engaging environment created through patronage of the arts. He emphasizes the importance of cultural enrichment and earnestness in combating the perceived sterility of the modern world and fostering a greater appreciation for art, poetry, and architecture.

Key Quotes​

Here are 3 valuable quotes extracted from the transcript:

  1. "When you're in love And when you're taken by these passions, right, you you you stop doing things you should be doing... That is not convenient and it's not beneficial to a world where your focus would be on on on on kind of optimizing according to those material conditions. And yet it's worth it." (This speaks to the challenging place of true romance in our optimization-focused modern world.)

  2. "If it's not making that environment more humane, if it's not making the lives of people there better, it is not fulfilling its its entire function." (This relates to the deeper function and meaning of design.)

  3. "The greatest piece of art they've ever witnessed and be be, you know, scene is Game of Thrones or White Lotus... I suspect across the scope of human history that they they're not I think there are other forms of art by which I mean poetry, films, books, paintings, music which access and exhibit an even higher, profound, deeper, broader and ultimately more meaningful side of of of humanity." (This is a strong opinion on the diminishing quality and depth of artistic expression that are commonplace in contemporary media.)

Detailed Summary​

Okay, here is a detailed summary of the provided YouTube transcript, using bullet points:

Key Topics:

  • The Meaning of Beauty: Shifting away from conventional definitions of "beauty" and advocating for the use of more practical and engaging terms like "interesting," "charming," and "meaningful."
  • The Problem with the Modern World: Discussing the perceived increasing "boringness," standardization, and generic nature of modern design and architecture.
  • Form and Function: Rethinking the interpretation of "form follows function," emphasizing that the function should include making the environment more humane and enriching.
  • The Importance of Detail and Decoration: Arguing that adding charm and meaning to even the most functional objects (like drainpipes or door latches) can greatly improve people's lives.
  • The Cultural Tutor's Origin Story: A detailed account of Sheen Quirk's journey from working at McDonald's to becoming the "Cultural Tutor" online, driven by boredom, a desire to write, and the patronage of David Perell.
  • The Role of Patronage: Highlighting the importance of patronage in fostering creativity and supporting artists, drawing historical examples like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Demolishing Political Associations around Architecture: Separating criticism of modernism from political ideologies and stressing that a call for beauty is not inherently conservative or fascistic.
  • The Value of Traditional Architecture: Discussing its sustainability, environmental friendliness, and ability to enrich the lives of both makers and users.
  • The Problem of Consumerism: Identifying consumerism as a major driver of boring and disposable design, prioritizing cost and convenience over quality and longevity.
  • Romance in the Modern World: Discussing romance as the least convenient thing, contrasting it with optimization and scheduling, and emphasizing the importance of earnestness and willingness to "die" or let go in love.
  • The Power of Poetry and Art: Advocating for a greater focus on poetry and other forms of art to enrich people's lives, access wisdom, and combat the superficiality of the modern world.
  • Discussion of brutalist architecture: How some may see brutalism as not charming but rather a way of using geometry on a large scale to be impressive rather than beautiful.

Arguments and Information:

  • Beauty as Love: The speaker suggests that the most helpful way to define beauty is to consider it synonymous with love manifested in the physical world.
  • Boredom as a Driving Force: Boredom is presented as a significant motivator for historical events and movements, even revolutions.
  • Interesting vs. Boring: "Interesting" is defined as the opposite of boring, capturing attention and being memorable.
  • Charming as Playfulness and Respect: "Charming" is described as a kind of playfulness that respects the viewer, adding whimsy and making the world more enjoyable.
  • Meaningful Reflects History and Place: "Meaningful" relates to designs that reflect the history and character of a specific place and its people, countering the generic standardization of the modern world.
  • Beauty can feel like a moral judgment: Speaker discusses how using words like beauty and ugliness can cause charge in conversations as it feels like a moral judgment, as opposed to describing something as boring.
  • The "Death of Detail" Post: Describing how the speaker's viral Twitter post highlighting the boringness of modern design resonated with many people worldwide.
  • The Value of Modern Architecture: The importance of recognizing that modern architecture provided practical, affordable housing to combat the material squalor that most lived in until the last century
  • Water Towers and Drainpipes as Examples: Using historical examples of water towers and drainpipes to illustrate how even functional infrastructure can be beautiful and engaging.
  • Homogeneous Architecture Then and Now: Comparing homogeneous architecture of the past and today.
  • The Value of Variety in Design: How everything doesn't have to be charming, but it is important to have variety.
  • The speaker thinks they would benefit from getting into art, architecture and poetry: It was like the world went from being in black and white to in full color and I think yeah that to summarize that is.

The Cultural Tutor's Story:

  • Early Life and Career: Sheen Quirk's path from university, through jobs as a security guard, McDonald's maintenance person, to his eventual online success.
  • The "Mulan Moment": Describing his decision to quit his job at McDonald's and fully commit to writing and online cultural tutoring.
  • The Patronage of David Perell: Highlighting the crucial support of David Perell, who provided financial support to allow Quirk to focus on his writing and online presence.
  • Bootstrapping His Twitter Account: Describing the initial efforts to build his Twitter following by actively seeking out people interested in similar topics.

Poetry:

  • Difficulties with getting in: The interviewee shares that it can be difficult to get into poetry.
  • Importance of Contemplative experience with poetry: Sharing the beauty of the words through deep contemplation.
  • Why people struggle so much with romance, you know, this particular side of of of love, modern love, I think, and this is a broader issue, it comes down to education: Sharing a quote, that your body is made up of everything that you put into your mouth and your mind is made up of everything you put into your eyes and ears.

Overall, the video explores the meaning of beauty, criticizes the blandness of much of modern design, advocates for the importance of detail and decoration, highlights the value of patronage, and encourages viewers to engage with art and poetry to enrich their lives.