I have a friend who's an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don't agree with very well. He'll hold up a flower and say "look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree. Then he says "I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing," and I think that he's kind of nutty.
First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is ... I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty.
I mean it's not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there's also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color.
It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts.
~ Richard Feynman ~
#wordsofwisdom
I think it normal and healthy that people disagree on some things. Reasonable minds can differ in how they see the world but still want to hug each other at the end of the day. It's just hard to see beyond our own experiences sometimes. Note: I am the worst at this above all others given my background and occupation. 👍
ReplyDeleteA flower is beautiful but it's arrangement of carbon hydrogen and oxygen with a little nitrogen and sulfur on the side isn't far from our own make up. That unique configuration of atoms gives a wonderful scent, an attractive color. Its a big world out there full of surprises 😉 Just some thoughts at 1:20 am. 😘
The way I see it is some people only a small part of the full picture, and the only thing they truly have is the confidence to think they do that better than other people. I used to fight against them but as I grew older I started feeling genuinely sorry for them... now I make sure I don't shatter their illusion because that's all they have.
ReplyDeleteI like the colorful blankie at 1:20 am Dan Argentum ;)
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it...We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. Our differences are beautiful...not wrong.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman... He was such a character. He had a huge ego, but in a curious and humble scientific minded way.
ReplyDeleteI love this quote of his. You can't read it without hearing his distinctive voice and seeing his brilliant grin.
Life would be far less interesting if everyone were the same. Perhaps that is why 'opposites attract'? Diversifying the genetic pool, with positives qualities from both, through gene transfer and combination...
ReplyDeleteScientists are able to enable the artists within them, it is more difficult the other way due to lack of training... however, any teenager can be self-assured and cockey. :-)
ReplyDeleteNorman Ma Depends what you mean by art and what you mean by science.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I like the whole package, not just the wrapper
ReplyDeleteFlowers reveal plants invited to the animal game of sexual selection, through the mediation of insects. Feynman's friend is just bragging that he's a better approximation to an insect.
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