In his 1998 book, Machine Beauty: Elegance And The Heart Of Technology, David Gelernter implored technologists to study art history and create more pleasing products. It would seem his hopes have been realized, but not because of some academic intervention. It’s simply because of the iPod and subsequent Apple products which offered great external aesthetics and software to match. Competitors were forced to try to keep pace. An excerpt from Gelernter’s book:

“Great technology is beautiful technology. If we care about technology excellence, we are foolish not to train our young scientists and engineers in aesthetics, elegance, and beauty. The idea of such a thing happening is so far-fetched it’s funny — but, yes, good technology is terribly important to our modern economy and living standards and comfort levels, the ‘software crisis’ is real, we do get from our fancy computers a tiny fraction of the value they are capable of delivering…. We ought to start teaching Velázquez, Degas, and Matisse to young technologists right now on an emergency basis. Every technologist ought to study drawing, design, and art history…. Art education is no magic wand. But I can guarantee that such a course of action would make things better: our technology would improve, our technologists would improve, and we would never regret it.”