system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Have any intellectuals written about "mess" or "untidiness"?

I was looking at my unwashed dishes, thinking; 'Mess' is interesting to define:

Have any Academics or Intellectuals written about what 'Mess' or 'Tidy/Untidiness' is or why it exists?

My observations, (feel free to challenge them or add any of your own):

1. Only man-made objects can be 'Messy': A garden can, but a forest cannot.
2. Something that is "a mess" is a) in transition from one position or state to another. or b) something complex someone intended to hide that is exposed (e.g. the inside of a poorly soldered light switch or even an extra-marital affair)
3. Mess is usually unintended and undesirable.
4. Mess = entropy. If all humans were to disappear, buildings would gradually disintegrate, and trees would grow through windows: IE: Nature would create 'mess'. So the 'tidying' of mess is the infinite resistance of nature.
5. Mess is different to dirt: Mess is sometimes clean, but dirt is always messy.
6. To perceive Mess requires the understanding that order was intended and that it is failing.
7. Mess is entirely subjective.
8. Only visible things can be Messy. A box of tangled cables in a cupboard is not, but when you open it, it is.
gpt
I know there has been some work on the topic of workspace disorder, messy or untidy workplaces, and outcomes such as productivity or creativity:

Manzi, A., Durmysheva, Y., Pinegar, S. K., Rogers, A., & Ramos, J. (2019). Workspace Disorder Does Not Influence Creativity and Executive Functions. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2662.

Vohs, K. D., Redden, J. P., & Rahinel, R. (2013). Physical order produces healthy choices, generosity, and conventionality, whereas disorder produces creativity. Psychological Science, 24(9), 1860-1867.