Perfection is an Illusion

I don’t mean this in the traditional sense of “perfect is the enemy of good”. I rarely held that idea to much credence anyways. What I mean is that perfection is an unimaginable idea that we have tricked ourselves into accepting as an ideal for various human endeavours.

what does it mean for something to be perfect?

Generally perfection is ascribed to things that have been analytically decomposed and interrogated. Once split into discrete pieces we apply metrics, metrics that have an upper bound. When each metric is at its upper bound (say, 100%) we say we have achieved perfection. If not, we rebuild each discrete piece, and recompose them to our “perfect” entity.

Math’s metrics are generally binary, true or false, making it the posterboy for perfection. There is no subjectivity in the metrics. Math also lends itself to being broken into discrete pieces and composed, perhaps by design.

the illusory nature of perfection

The issue is in the limitations of our ability to analytically decompose, to interrogate, to measure. We are imperfect. In our attempt to abstract through decomposition or measurement we lose information. We lose sight of the whole. So though our metrics themselves might report perfection, how can we say the entity we ended up with is perfect when we account for the limitations of the process?

Tesla has made the perfect car, fast, comfortable, capable, but people often say it lacks soul. People who take cars as art, who look past the decomposed metrics of cars and value the raw experience each one brings, hate teslas. Art and brilliance do not favour the perfect.

When someone makes a breakthrough, or innovates, or, broadly, creates art. The art they have made is perfect by the virtuous act of creation. It occurs violently, discontinuously, like a spark. It does not occur through a discursive process. People may try and convince you otherwise (even the artists) through post-hoc analysis, but that’s not the complete truth concerning its inception.

Perfection favours rules, favours competition, favours homogeneity. Perfection concedes to the artist, the rulebreaker, the idiosyncratic.