This clever and attractive music video creates images out of repetition of dice numbers — pictures of dice showing 1, 2, etc. It illustrates the general point that we like to see identical or nearly-identical things side by side. A vast amount of decoration (wallpaper, rugs, packages, posters, architectural details) takes advantage of this.
It’s a curious propensity because we don’t see this pattern in nature: we don’t see identical things side by side, neatly lined up. So the propensity did not evolve so that people will prefer Place X to Place Y. It’s a propensity that causes us to place similar things side by side — if we have a doll collection, for example, to put our dolls side by side rather than far apart.
When we put things side by side it is far easier to notice small differences. Noticing small differences is the first step toward caring about small differences, deriving pleasure and displeasure from them — becoming a connoisseur, in other words. Connoisseurs pay more for “fine” stuff than the rest of us — wine connoisseurs pay more for wine, for example. In human prehistory, I theorize, connoisseurs supported artists and artisans, who were the first material scientists.
The pleasure we take from identical things side by side evolved because it increased connoisseurship. Supermarkets should do more side-by-side sampling of different products in the same category — different balsamic vinegars, for example.
Directory for this series.