The unit of interestingness
The unit of interestingness is 1S. You call a topic interesting of 1S when you can write one sentence about it. You reach the next level at ten sentences, that’s called 2S. This is a logarithmic scale. At 3S, the topic becomes fascinating. You produce a hundred sentences without any effort. 4S marks a level of obsession. I don’t want to sound bombastic. Real obsession starts at 5S. It takes ten thousand sentences. That’s a book. Most mortals never reach it. What is 6S?
At an exhibition in the Pompidou Center in Paris, I saw a large canvas with consecutive numbers on it. White, 5-digit numbers on a grey background. The painter is called Roman Opalka. He wanted to paint the numbers from 1 to infinity. The background was black in the early years. He changed it to grey to make it neutral. Black was too emotional, too symbolic. Nothing should stand between him and the numbers. He decided to add 1% more white to the background every year. He would paint in white on white by the time he reaches 7 777 777. A symbolic number. He died last year. The last number he painted was …
I would call this 7S.
What was he interested in? The natural numbers? Infinity? Maybe it was a subtler subject, difficult to put into words. I see an infinite meadow of concepts. Some have a name. Most are nameless. The flowers in the meadow are the concepts with a name. All the grasses are nameless.
Roman Opalka found a special grass in the meadow. It kept his interest for his whole life. Had he pointed me the exact same grass, would I be painting numbers now?
