On the Arts and the Sciences

"Science provides an understanding of a universal experience and art provides a universal understanding of a personal experience." -Mae Jemison

Astronaut (and dancer) Mae Jemison has this great Ted talk (and if you don't know what Ted is by now, please begin watching immediately*) about how the arts and sciences are more similar than people (both artists and scientists) are willing to admit, and as such, should be taught together in schools. I really enjoyed this talk, not because she provided any kind of solution to the art/science dichotomy (one minor flaw to her speech) but because it comes from someone with both exceptional analytical skill and artistic talent. She explains that both analytical and creative skills are manifested in scientific and artistic disciplines and that to denigrate one or the other is to ignore the fact that humans both use and need both to function.

I think one reason I felt so drawn to this video is because it is a rebuttal to what I hear all too often now: that students should pursue math and engineering and, if not intelligent enough, they should go to trade school. Perhaps it is just my math/economics/computer science-heavy family, but it does seem that the arts (which includes, in my mind, the social sciences, politics, languages and others) are being quickly thrown to the wayside. I think this is a huge mistake (and not just because I recently graduated with a degree in the liberal arts). In an age where computers and brilliant Chinese and Indian students can outsmart us and do everything we do cheaper and more efficiently, we will need to harness the creativity that us dumb art majors have in order to stay afloat in the next century.

In fact, many people are now saying that it will be right-brained thinkers that lead us into the next generation. Dan Pink, Al Gore's former speechwriter, has a book called A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brained Thinkers Will Rule the Future where he argues that "inventiveness" and "empathy" will be the qualities needed for future success. Pink also has a great Ted talk, which he begins by sheepishly admitting that he went to Yale Law School, a huge mistake in his mind (and something that hit a little too close to home for me).

I think artsy, creative people can rejoice. Not only are they beginning to get a little respect, but this economy is the perfect opportunity to have creative pursuits. In an age where many are unemployed and a college degree, even in something useful, no longer entitles its bearer, the opportunity cost is lower than it has been in a long time (OK, thank you econ).  So I say, go for it. Funemployment here we come.

*Ted! Start with the "Most Favorited of all Time" (particularly Jill Bolte Taylor, Hans Rosling, and Malcolm Gladwell), then try out the unconventional "talks" by Rives, David Gallo, Arthur Benjamin, and Jennifer Lin. They'll blow your freaking mind.