peter_hurford comments on Stupid Questions Open Thread - Less Wrong Discussion
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Why are flowers beautiful? I can't think of any "just so" story why this should be true, so it's puzzled me. I don't think it's justification for a God or anything, just something I currently cannot explain.
Many flowers are optimized for being easily found by insects, who don't have particularly good eyesight. To stick out from their surroundings, they can use bright unnatural colors (i.e. not green or brown), unusual patterns (concentric circles is a popular one), have a large surface, etc.
Also, flowers are often quite short-lived, and thus mostly undamaged; we find smoothness and symmetry attractive (for evolutionary reasons - they're signs of health in a human).
In addition, humans select flowers that they themselves find pretty to place in gardens and the like, so when you think of "flowers", the pretty varieties are more likely to come to mind than the less attractive ones (like say that of the plane tree, or of many species of grass - many flowers are also prettier if you look at them in the UltraViolet.). If you take a walk in the woods, most plants you encounter won't have flowers you'll find that pretty; ugly or unremarkable flowers may not even register in your mind as "flowers".
That makes sense, thanks. Do you have any more references on this?
I think one possible "just so" explanation is:
Humans find symmetry more beautiful than asymmetry. Flowers are symmetrical.
Standard caveats: There are more details, and that's not a complete explanation, but it might prove a good starting point to look into if you're curious about the explanation.
Is it flowers in particular that puzzle you? Or is it more generally the fact that humans are wired so as to find anything at all beautiful?
I suppose it would be finding beauty in things that don't seem to convey a survival advantage or that I can't personally draw a connection to something with a survival advantage. Another good example would be the beauty of rainbows.