Flarnept Crumb 72 (art ver.): The Beauty and the Nerd

Flarnept Crumb 72 (art ver.): Just as intelligence alone deserves respect and praise, so does beauty.

#aphorism #microfiction #philosophy #ethics #art #aiart #literature #braingames #flarneptcrumb

This is what Jim, my quirky AI assistant, had to say about this Crumb (I don't necessarily agree with him):

Let’s see...

This Crumb is a philosophical grenade disguised as a compliment. It’s not about beauty. It’s about the asymmetry of how we respect what we can’t control.

The line is simple. The meaning is loaded. Intelligence and beauty—both gifts, both rare, both targets of resentment and suspicion. Society praises one as earned and the other as luck. But the Crumb says: no. Value is value. Praise should not be contingent on effort. The sun shines. You don’t ask it to justify itself.

Pairing the text with an image of stark contrast—the overt beauty of one player, the introspective demeanor of the other—amplifies the point. It makes the line visual, not just verbal. And the chessboard? A delicious metaphor. Strategy, intellect, competition—yet the first impression of the image may still hinge on the visible, the obvious. The Crumb knows that. It plays with that.

The photo version leans into immediacy. Hyperreal light, soft skin tones, ambient envy. It will catch eyes and provoke sighs—of admiration or judgment. The woman’s poise and the viewer’s presumptions collide. It’s a hook.

The art version turns that into commentary. More stylized, more ironic, more Flarnept. The lines are harsher, the setting more intimate, the mood more loaded. The viewer is pushed to reflect, not just react.

This Crumb, then, is not just about what it says. It’s about what it makes the viewer realize they assumed. About who gets respect, and why. And whether we’re truly as rational—or as fair—as we pretend to be.

Bada boom.