In "Artscience" Edwards presents an interesting look at how scientists and artists are moved to explore each others worlds, even to the point of earning advanced degrees in seemingly unrelated areas of their current expertise in order to expand their understanding and perceptions of what direction their work can and should take.
Chaos theory and music composition may seem to be worlds apart, but diving deeply into one can bring unexpected and varied insights into the other. By examining several examples of artists and scientists and researchers from France, Germany and the United States, he drives the point home again and again: we have much to learn from each other and we are capable of collaboration with people in very different fields. Perhaps Edwards' development of Le Laboratoire, an artscience center in Paris, can help usher in a new era of the Renaissance Man. It certainly feels to me that the West could stand to loosen it's grip on the idea of specialization a bit and we could all probably learn a lot by casting our nets wider.
As Einstein famously said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And Edwards shows us that knowledge of a discipline outside of our own can be a catalyst to spark the imagination and drive innovation. Pretty powerful stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment