Even more abstract, philosophical musings...

SO a friend and I were talking today about how half Asian, half anglo people are so attractive, and I mentioned that half black people are too, but my friend did not agree.  And it got me to thinking about how do we decide what is pretty and what is not?  

Some of it is learned, we are told something is attractive through magazines etc, but some of it has to be inherent, because even among sibling or other close people, our tastes vary person to person.  It's not purely regional, although exposure does play a role too... that whole nature/nurture conundrum.

I once heard a theory about how people gravitate toward symmetry, and that beauty could be measured with computer software that finds and matches control points between the two halves of your face and finds the difference and simularities... but I'm not so sure about this for two reasons:

1) Kate Moss's face is VERY symmetrical, but I think it's kind of scary how far apart her eyes are... although, she's actually kind of like Angelina Jolie in that some pictures of her are breathtaking, and others are just really not (nothing to do with makeup or anything... there are glamour shots of both these women that are just not attention grabbing)  Which kind of goes along with this point about symmetry, in that the women's faces do not become less symmetrical, and yet they are less attractive somehow...

2) If you've ever done that Photobooth special effect where it mirrors one side on the other you can give yourself a perfectly symmetrical face, and it is not attractive.  Interesting, but not really hot.