Why are modern arms so ugly?

Dear Halcro, When Marie Antoinette asked her servants why
the people are revolting she got as answer: they have no
bread to eat. Marie was very suprised and asked: but why
they don't eat cookie's instead?
You seem to have as much understandig of 'people' as Marie.
Ie you are professionaly involved in eastethics, have interest in art your 'whole life' and you expect the 'commons' to admire Cobra tonearm?
There is a grammar reason also. If we think as we speak then there is an obvious dominance of 'S is P' (subject-predicate) sentence form. We ascribe some predicate to a given object. Say Mona Lisa is the most beautiful painting
ever made. Ascribing an predicate to a given object is the
same as to know what kind of conditions an object must satisfy in order to decide if the object in casu satisfy the conditions. The 'is' between S and P has 4 different
logical readings one of which is the existence. Ie there is
no much sense in ascribing an predicate to a not existent object. This would mean some quality without a bearer.
Now those 'new objects of art' or 'the shock of the new' as
you put it are obviously never seen before.Ie 'non existent'. So the most of us have no idea what predicate to put on or no idea what kind of conditions this new object
satisfy. The only way out seem to be some comparison with
'the old ,known one'. And there is our dilemma:it looks not similar to anything I know. Those who are educated in art are in a different position because they get the 'feeling' for the art and are able to recognise the 'new beauty' or something 'special' in an new object of art.
We in Holland have Van Gogh museum. The riddle: the most visitors come from Japan. The most of them come to Holland primary because of Van Gogh and, probably, tulips.

Regards,

Halcro,
"As the Moderator here.....'modern' arms which do not advance the art and science of the design....are not of interest."
That rules out the Continuum arms then - there is nothing new there other than the "shape" of the arm tube - which looks like an Art Deco Bakelite Slimline Telephone handle or an overripe banana with frostbite.
Seriously Halcro - there is a total disconnect in aesthetic between the arm pillar, VTA adjusters etc and the arm tube itself. It is the design equivalent of a carbon fiber and glass box stuck on the back of an 1880's wooden villa - and the villa still has nails sticking out of it.
As for fit and finish - as one who has worked extensively in the surgical implant business - it is average.

Halcro,
I like you in the role of the Director of the Aesthetics branch. Maybe you hire Audiofeil as the Director of the Bureau of Humor - I always do me hard to understand him, does he live in a small country? or is he very remote?

Dover,
obviously you do`not know the Cobra arm, otherwise you would not have stated - there is nothing new. Maybe you should start looking underneath the arm first. This is the advice I also gave Audiofeil but he seems to know better,so he may answer your upcoming questions more precisely...

best @ fun only

Careful folks - Dover was referring to the outlook only and he is pretty on track with his description.
This is NOT about any performance nor prospective technical advance or new feature of the Cobra arm - it was/is about "looks".
And - well ... - it is a very retro arm wand reminding many of us of the old 1940s bakelite "tonearms".
So retro .... beautiful .... well .... ugly .... not really neither.
Cheers,
D.

Historically, most "ahead of their times" were looked down upon until consideration and reasoning caught up. The Copperhead and Cobra are perhaps the Cyrano de Bergarac of tonearms.