Some thoughts, over at The Speculist. Not sure how to categorize this post, but I went with "Technology and Society." The notion of "celebrities as proto-transhumans" is interesting.

And as a complete aside (based on a comment over there mentioning her), am I the only heterosexual American male who doesn't find Jessica Simpson particularly attractive?

[Update a few minutes later]

Just to take the post further off topic, I also have no idea what it is that anyone sees in Drew Barrymore (though I know from experience that Michael Mealing will find this heresy).

Yes.

No, you're definitely not the only heterosexual American male who doesn't find Jessica Simpson particularly attractive. I've never understood all the fuss about her looks.

She may not be the absolute best looking woman on Earth but I damn sure would not kick her out of bed opn a cold morning. She is still 50 times better looking than that Paris Hilton creature.

While I'm not a big fan of either, I find Paris Hilton more attractive than Jessica Simpson. I think perhaps it's that the latter uses (IMO) way too much makeup, and I suspect that this is what makes her attractive to so many (what does she look like without it?). I prefer women who look good without makeup, or even after having been tossed into the water.

I consider Paris Hilton to look like an anorexic drowned rat and no amount of make up can fix that.

I am no fan of fat women as being attractive but Paris would have to eat an entire Deli just to be skinny.

Now as far as my ideal woman. That Evangeline Lilly chick from Lost. That is about as good as it gets IMO.

What the hell, Rand, you don't have a category called "God and the Singularity" or "Celebrities as Proto-Transhumans?" What kind of joint are you running, here, anyhow?

I think Jessica Simpson is hot and Paris Hilton is not. I don't care for Drew Berrymore. Do remember however, Drew Berrymore does shit in the woods. I think I read here sometime ago.

I'm not american but ... /me g**gles (why is that "questionable content"??) for Jessica Simpson ...

She definitely rates as attractive for me. Perhaps not as much as my last girlfriend, but not bad (although I'd need to see without makeup to be sure). And I haven't heard her open her mouth to speak, which could end it instantly.

You can keep Paris Hilton, and Pamela Anderson, and Angeline Jolie though.

I don't know much about these young women. I'm too old, I guess. I had to do a search on Jessica Simpson to see what she looks like. Not bad. But not Ava Gardner, either. While I'm free-associating on these babes, I have to wonder what exactly Rand was doing at his keyboard during the hiatus marked by "[update a few minutes later]".

Mikr Puckett opines that Paris would have to eat an entire Deli in order to look skinny. If she ate nothing more than an entire Dell it would be enough.

Let God and the Singularity wait; there are more attractive matters to free-associate with.

I have to wonder what exactly Rand was doing at his keyboard during the hiatus marked by "[update a few minutes later]".

Nothing having to do with the subject of this post, I can assure you. It was just another random thought that hit while I was doing unrelated things (and in fact not at the keyboard).

I think the key to Jessica's appeal is that she looks like the triple-distilled essence of the snooty head cheerleader who wouldn't give you the time of day in high school, but has a much more "just folks" public persona - kind of like you might actually have another shot after all these years.

Namloc is right that she's not Ava Gardner, though. Fergie of The Black-Eyed Peas is Ava Gardner. Hell, while we're on the subject, Catherine Zeta Jones is Hedy Lamarr and Mandy Moore is Doris Day.

I second Mike's swoon over Evangeline Lilly.

Rand,
is Jessica Simpson the one with the blond hair, blue eyes and pert little nose?

Or is she the one with the blond hair, blue eyes and pert little nose?

THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE!!!! And not in a good way, in a cookie cutter, stamped out by the dozens Hollywood way

I don't get ANY of the women most guys like now. Good looking women should have shape, hips, MEAT on their bones, and not just big ta-tas.

Mae West, Marylin Monroe and Sophia Loren would all starve to death in todays world. It is appalling.

Drew Barrymore is not beautiful, she's got a more cute, kooky, best friends little sister thing going. One day you notice that she's not 5 years younger than you anymore, she's ALL grown up now.

Interesingly, I've said much the same about Drew to friends, before. She's not 'beautiful' in a classic sense (though she skirted its edges in a magazine spread I saw last year), she's simply 'cute...'

But she's *maximum* cute. Hasn't lost it since her External Tank days.

(Oops, sorry, wrong 'ET.')

Well, Steve, recall what Groucho once said (purportedly about Errol Flynn's girlfriend)-

"A man is only as old as the woman he feels!"

Doug,
after 32 years of marriage, I treat young good looking women like new cars, I have no real desire to test drive either one.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Charlize Theron. I like the more atheltic build and she certainly has the hotti factor going for her. She also shown that she can put on some weight and fill out that curves very well. However, she also has the cute element to her as well. She can smile and you can see that she doesn't have perfect teeth, but I like that she has a flaw that adds to her character and makes her unique. She seems like she would be an interesting person to talk to and would have an actual personality other then to flip her hair and pout all the time.

Paris Hilton's two outstanding features are: 1) wealth, 2) blond hair. She's not pretty. Jessica Simpson was/is correctly described as having a fantastic body & the mind of a nun. Personally, I preferred Gillian Anderson. Or the likes of Lucy Lawless. Or the girls of the various fotocommunities...