Web of Ideas: Taste and the Aesthetics of Design with Paul Graham November 8, 2006

Web of Ideas: Taste and the Aesthetics of Design
with Paul Graham and David Weinberger

Join the discussion as Berkman Fellow David Weinberger interviews Paul Graham, software guru, entrepreneur, essayist and painter. In a recent essay, "Taste for Makers," Paul argues that successful design, from math to software to painting, relies on the same aesthetic principles. Taste is therefore not a matter of subjectively appreciating fine works but is a required capability for creating great software. But is taste as timeless as Paul suggests? Do the design principles Paul points to result from aesthetic or functional characteristics? And why should we think that the visual and the programmatic, the artistic and the functional, the physical and the virtual might all be beautiful in similar ways?

As a programmer, Paul Graham is particularly known for co-developing Viaweb, and for describing the simple Bayesian spam filter that inspired most current filters. He's currently working on a new programming language called Arc, a new book on startups, and is one of the partners in the innovative entrepreneurial fund Y Combinator. Paul has an AB from Cornell and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, and studied painting at RISD and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.

Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/bio.html
"Taste for Makers" essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/taste.html
David Weinberger: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/david_weinberger