Andrés Gómez Emilsson | Towards an Enlightened Phenomenology of Scent: What's an Aromatic Fougère at the Deepest Level? @/Andr%C3%A9sG%C3%B3mezEmilsson | Uploaded August 2021 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
In this talk we analyze the perfume category called "Aromatic Fougère" in order to illustrate the aesthetic of "Qualiacore" in its myriad manifestations.
Definition: The Qualiacore Aesthetic is the practice and aspiration to describe experiences in new, meaningful, and non-trivial ways that are illuminating for our understanding of the nature of consciousness.
At a high-level, we must note that the classic ways of describing the phenomenology of scents tend to "miss the target". Learning about the history, cultural imports, associations, and similarities between perfumes can be fun to do but it does not advance an accurate phenomenological impression of what it is that we are talking about. And while reading about the "perfume notes" of a composition can place it in a certain location relative to other perfumes, such note descriptions usually give you a false sense of understanding and familiarity far removed from the complex subtleties of the state-space of scent. So how can we say new, meaningful, and non-trivial things about a smell?
Note-wise, Aromatic Fougères are typically described as the combination of herbs and spices (the aromatic part) with the core Fougère accord of oak moss, lavender/bergamot, and coumarin. In this video I offer a qualiacore-style analysis of how these "notes" interact with one another in order to form emergent gestalts. Here we will focus on the phenomenal character of these effects with an emphasis on bringing analogies from dynamic system behavior and energy-management techniques within the purview of the Symmetry Theory of Valence.
In the end, we arrive at a phenomenological fingerprint that cashes out in a comparison to the psychoactive effect of "Calvin Klein" (cocaine + ketamine*), which blends both stimulation and dissociation at the same time - a rather interesting effect that can be used to help you overcome awkwardness barriers in everyday life. "Smooth out the awkwardness landscape with Drakkar Noir!"
I also discuss the art of perfumery in light of QRI's 8 models of art:
1. Art as family resemblance (Semantic Deflation)
2. Art as Signaling (Cool Kid Theory)
3. Art as Schelling-point creation (a few Hipster-theoretical considerations)
4. Art as cultivating sacred experiences (self-transcendence and highest values)
5. Art as exploring the state-space of consciousness (ϡ☀♘🏳️🌈♬♠ヅ)
6. Art as something that messes with the energy parameter of your mind (ꙮ)
7. Art as puzzling valence effects (emotional salience and annealing as key ingredients)
8. Art as a system of affective communication: a protolanguage to communicate information about worthwhile qualia (which culminates in Harmonic Society).
~Qualia of the Day: Aromatic Fougères~
* Extremely ill-advised.
------------------------
Relevant links:
Perfumery as an Art Form -
qualiacomputing.com/2020/02/21/perfumery-as-an-art-form
Harmonic Society (1/4): Art as Family Resemblance + Cool Kid Theory
- qualiacomputing.com/2019/09/16/harmonic-society-1-4-art-as-family-resemblance-cool-kid-theory - (buy copy here: artagainstart.com/p/issue-6.html)
Neural Annealing: Toward a Neural Theory of Everything
(Michael Johnson) - opentheory.net/2019/11/neural-annealing-toward-a-neural-theory-of-everything
A Primer on the Symmetry Theory of Valence (Michael Johnson) - qualiaresearchinstitute.org/blog/a-primer-on-the-symmetry-theory-of-valence
Qualia Research Diary: Scents - qualiacomputing.com/2020/08/14/qualia-research-diary-scents
The Fact That We Can Smell Functional Groups is Just Such a Thing
- qualiacomputing.com/2020/08/25/the-fact-that-we-can-smell-functional-groups-is-just-such-a-thing
Azzaro pour Homme - fragrantica.com/perfume/Azzaro/Azzaro-pour-Homme-829.html
Drakkar Noir Guy Laroche - fragrantica.com/perfume/Guy-Laroche/Drakkar-Noir-2069.html
Aromatic Fougère according to Fragrantica - fragrantica.com/groups/aromatic+fougere.html
In this talk we analyze the perfume category called "Aromatic Fougère" in order to illustrate the aesthetic of "Qualiacore" in its myriad manifestations.
Definition: The Qualiacore Aesthetic is the practice and aspiration to describe experiences in new, meaningful, and non-trivial ways that are illuminating for our understanding of the nature of consciousness.
At a high-level, we must note that the classic ways of describing the phenomenology of scents tend to "miss the target". Learning about the history, cultural imports, associations, and similarities between perfumes can be fun to do but it does not advance an accurate phenomenological impression of what it is that we are talking about. And while reading about the "perfume notes" of a composition can place it in a certain location relative to other perfumes, such note descriptions usually give you a false sense of understanding and familiarity far removed from the complex subtleties of the state-space of scent. So how can we say new, meaningful, and non-trivial things about a smell?
Note-wise, Aromatic Fougères are typically described as the combination of herbs and spices (the aromatic part) with the core Fougère accord of oak moss, lavender/bergamot, and coumarin. In this video I offer a qualiacore-style analysis of how these "notes" interact with one another in order to form emergent gestalts. Here we will focus on the phenomenal character of these effects with an emphasis on bringing analogies from dynamic system behavior and energy-management techniques within the purview of the Symmetry Theory of Valence.
In the end, we arrive at a phenomenological fingerprint that cashes out in a comparison to the psychoactive effect of "Calvin Klein" (cocaine + ketamine*), which blends both stimulation and dissociation at the same time - a rather interesting effect that can be used to help you overcome awkwardness barriers in everyday life. "Smooth out the awkwardness landscape with Drakkar Noir!"
I also discuss the art of perfumery in light of QRI's 8 models of art:
1. Art as family resemblance (Semantic Deflation)
2. Art as Signaling (Cool Kid Theory)
3. Art as Schelling-point creation (a few Hipster-theoretical considerations)
4. Art as cultivating sacred experiences (self-transcendence and highest values)
5. Art as exploring the state-space of consciousness (ϡ☀♘🏳️🌈♬♠ヅ)
6. Art as something that messes with the energy parameter of your mind (ꙮ)
7. Art as puzzling valence effects (emotional salience and annealing as key ingredients)
8. Art as a system of affective communication: a protolanguage to communicate information about worthwhile qualia (which culminates in Harmonic Society).
~Qualia of the Day: Aromatic Fougères~
* Extremely ill-advised.
------------------------
Relevant links:
Perfumery as an Art Form -
qualiacomputing.com/2020/02/21/perfumery-as-an-art-form
Harmonic Society (1/4): Art as Family Resemblance + Cool Kid Theory
- qualiacomputing.com/2019/09/16/harmonic-society-1-4-art-as-family-resemblance-cool-kid-theory - (buy copy here: artagainstart.com/p/issue-6.html)
Neural Annealing: Toward a Neural Theory of Everything
(Michael Johnson) - opentheory.net/2019/11/neural-annealing-toward-a-neural-theory-of-everything
A Primer on the Symmetry Theory of Valence (Michael Johnson) - qualiaresearchinstitute.org/blog/a-primer-on-the-symmetry-theory-of-valence
Qualia Research Diary: Scents - qualiacomputing.com/2020/08/14/qualia-research-diary-scents
The Fact That We Can Smell Functional Groups is Just Such a Thing
- qualiacomputing.com/2020/08/25/the-fact-that-we-can-smell-functional-groups-is-just-such-a-thing
Azzaro pour Homme - fragrantica.com/perfume/Azzaro/Azzaro-pour-Homme-829.html
Drakkar Noir Guy Laroche - fragrantica.com/perfume/Guy-Laroche/Drakkar-Noir-2069.html
Aromatic Fougère according to Fragrantica - fragrantica.com/groups/aromatic+fougere.html
