Thursday, May 31, 2007

Art or Science?

Now there is a question most of us dealt with after we "matriculated". Yeah, I know I should be adding commerce to the list too, but more on that another day. So what makes us decide if we want to be artists or scientists? Most of the time it is the economic consideration (of course kids are supposedly "non economic"….But parents are not, are they?)
But besides that, why do we assume (oh, of course we do not assume anything….it is just the ignorant pagans who do) that a career with science is superior to one with art? If it was just economics, then we should be enrolling en masse for courses in politics and underworld management (Did I tell you I am good at tautology?). Those are the most lucrative career options by far with the only prerequisites being an atrophied conscience and skin like a rhino. Did someone say ethical?
But I am diverging from the topic. Now that I think about it (and I have been for a couple of days), there is more to be done with the mind than there is with the brain. The mind is mostly uncharted territory for us while we have been doing better with the brain for the last couple of centuries. I believe that art will eventually lead us to understanding our minds. And that the mind has immense power is not a theory I need to repeat here. We have been developing our physical prowess admirably ever since James Watt inspired the industrial revolution. And frankly, science seems to me a lot easier to master than art. Like the lady who used to teach us mechanical engineers, basic electronics used to say "You can understand mechanical engineering as you can see the shafts and the rollers. You wont get the hang of Electronics since you cannot see the electron" Science deals with what can be seen or measured. Art deals with the abstract. Isn't the unknown fascinating anymore?
All it needs is one idea for the focus of humanity to change. And if we do not encourage good people to get into art, that idea may never come.

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