Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1997
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A marriage of unlike minds
For the first time in 400 years or so it would appear art and science are coming back together. Multimedia, virtual reality, humanised interfaces and the need to create environments where the understanding of complex and non-linear situations is both possible and accessible are the main forces for this remarriage. No doubt Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci would be amazed at the original divorce, as both were artist and engineer. Galileo was more scientist and engineer, but also fostered the desire to find the truth, to understand and use the forces and materials of nature to the advantage of mankind. All were also subject to the constraints of the religious oppression of the day, and the public fear engendered by witchcraft and alchemy. Truth was what mattered, and what came to distinguish scientist and engineer from the forces of religion and art. But have we grown up sufficiently to live together?

The power of computers is increasingly acting as an intermediary between many different groups and disciplines. Mathematician, scientist, engineer and artist can now talk and understand each other as never before. Even the sub-groupings inside science are finding it useful to come together through information technology.

Computer and network science are encompassing biology, for example. The computer (our third lobe) and visualisation technologies are providing a very effective left-right brain connect. They are also proving a powerful tool for rapid mediation and understanding.

In modern management the essential of being part of a team is sold heavily. In much of art it would appear that the individual still rules, while in engineering and science, teams have been essential for decades.

The lone mathematician can still pursue a solitary course, but for most technologists the team is the closest they can get to true understanding. A group consciousness is necessary to corral all the facets of big problems that extend well beyond the abilities of single minds or disciplines.

It is as if all of human knowledge is a thin layer of ice (understanding) on a vast sea of the unknown and waiting to be discovered. When we are young we tend to know a lot about almost nothing - we are specialised and deep. As we get older, we know almost nothing about a vast amount as we tend toward the general. It is no longer possible to be the complete holistic human. It is only possible to be partially educated, to know but an increasingly minuscule fraction of what there is to know.

It does not seem to matter. We have given up the glory of the individual for the glory of the group. Individuals still shine, but everyone contributes to the final outcome.

I well remember an eminent scientist repelling a group of artists who proclaimed that scientists understood nothing of beauty. If he saw a flower, the artist would paint or draw it to capture its magnificence, while the scientist would pull it apart and destroy it. They were wrong, of course: science sees the inner beauty of the mathematics that dictate the number and form of the petals, the molecular forms behind the colours and scents. None of this has been visible to the artist, who saw and understood almost nothing.

But that is all changing. Artists can now see these invisible worlds for the first time. Ultimately, the big question is: what will they bring to science and engineering? A lot, I suspect.

Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is:
http://cochrane.org.uk