measurement

24Apr08

Science, it seems, can quantify anything:

“…on the subject of art and beauty, I must mention Asimov’s suggestion… of a unit for quantifying the measurement of beauty: “the millihelen.”
If the beauty of Helen of Troy was sufficient to launch a thousand ships, then one millihelen would be beauty sufficient to launch a single ship.“

[From here, via Wired.]

Taking things to their logical conclusion, one supposes a microhelen would be the beauty sufficient to launch a single sailor… perhaps in a rubber dingy…

Filed under: moments   |  
Tags: humour, Asimov, Isaac Asimov, Humanism, millihelen, Helen of Troy, Wired Magazine, sailor, ships, thousand, microhelen