This weekend I've been thinking about the word 'aesthetic' in relation to a phrase said by a friend: “This work is aesthetic.” I have studied the etymology of the word aesthetic, it seems that its meaning was originally perceived through the senses, and it was later associated with the search for beauty. In today’s society, it seems to me that the search for beauty and the need for appearances are complicated by the word aesthetic. My friend is a university professor and when I said that her work is aesthetic, I wanted to point out that she doesn’t see much sense in her work, because bureaucracy is the majority of her work, within a meritocratic system.

This use of the word “aesthetic” refers to the direction of the influence of what we do, both in the physical and digital spheres, in the reality in which we live. It's about losing the power to influence the world. In today’s world, for example, we receive a lot of information and data about the complex situations of the most vulnerable groups (gender, origin, economic capacity...), a necessary work, but to what extent is it not aesthetic? How much does it affect today’s reality? What do those in power pay attention to? What agency capacity do we have?

If you suspect that the reality you live in is aesthetic, that is, if you do not see much sense in your role in the system, pay attention to the causes in the sense of the actions performed by those who give shape to reality. Only from there will we find ways to influence and take steps to influence the reality we live in.