Artist or Scientist, Who got It Right?
Science and Art are usually thought to be the two different ways to view the world, but are they? and which is better?
It took my brother several days to complete the Michael Jackson portrait. Computer papers of different colors, cut in different small sizes and finally glued together to form the beautiful piece. Reimagining the world around him and then describing it in the form of computer graphics, or hand-paintings has always been his hobby. My brother is what an ordinary person would describe as an artist, and I think he really is.
I, on the other hand, used to be much more interested in looking at the world from the physics perspective. I liked to see things as the processes completely governed by the laws of universe. My belief was that there is a great deal of pleasure and value in observing the world through that lens. It is obvious that my brother and I had two very different ways of looking at the world. I would often try to undermine what he was doing, and he did the same to me. We would have long futile debates about which perspective was right, until we realized how laughably stupid we had been all along.
Nature of Science
Since its rigorous establishment just few centuries ago, Science as a tool to view and understand the world has come a long way. Every single person alive, with some sense of how the world works, holds the belief that nothing has impacted the human life more than this tool. Scientific method is a way to get to the truth and the causes of any physical phenomenon, and it is unlike any other method we have had developed. Compared to how we as a specie have lived through out our history, this method is truly a revolution in how we think, and what we think the truth should be. It encourages us to forgo our preconceptions and beliefs, and accept something to be true only if it is verifiable through experiments and trials. It also suggests that our senses could be deceptive, and complete reliance on them in the pursuit of truth might lead us in the wrong direction. So, a scientist is a person who observes a phenomenon in the universe, develops a hypothesis to explain it, and then runs experiment to test the hypothesis, if the results of experiments are in line with the prediction of the developed hypothesis, it is rendered credibility, elsewise the hypothesis is discarded.
Nature of Art
The hand printed on the wall, against the red background, is one of the the earliest expression of art. It is believed to be tens of thousands of years old. This represents a very important and indisputable fact about human nature; Our need to express ourselves is as old as us. We have always wanted to express ourselves in a way we see fit. We want to express ourselves to build better connections, and to let others be aware of how we see things. Artist is also motivated by the desire to bring joy to those who encounter their art. Art is a way of doing things which doesn’t take into account the fundamental stuff the thing being viewed or observed is made of, or the fundamental laws that underline those processes. It only concerns itself with how the things appear to our senses, and what types of reactions they provoke. In that regard, its nature seems to be completely different than that of the science.
Merging the two
While the science and art are two distinct landscapes, it is still interesting to ask ourselves if it is possible to merge the two discipline. And the answer to that is yes, new ways are being created and utilized where the methods from both fields are put together to create something new. The common example of that is graphic designing. The computer aided tools (developed by the programmers, strictly following the coding rules) are used by the artists to achieve things they otherwise would not. like wise, the game developers take into account the different perceiving effects while designing their product. Same holds true for many other disciplines where the two fields come together in harmony, both add more values to each other than we think.
Conclusion
While both Scientist, and artist have their unique ways of looking at the world, and make sense of it, one is as necessary as the other. We would not have all the technological richness without Science, and life without arts would also be just as dull. Imagine we didn’t have all the designs, cinematics, music, literature etc. While Science tends to relax us by easing the physical struggle, the art brings emotional and psychological joy and peace. Both are necessary for the man to make its life colorful. So, an artist is just as important as scientist, and perhaps we should stop pitting them against each other.
