tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285729513030543746.post4113084035681963138..comments2024-03-27T00:26:40.551-07:00Comments on Real Time View: The artists among us ...Richard Bucklehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723428627971060930noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285729513030543746.post-62240511538596151972007-10-26T07:44:00.000-07:002007-10-26T07:44:00.000-07:00Hear, hear! So often we don't pay attention to wha...Hear, hear! So often we don't pay attention to what is directly in front of us.<BR/><BR/>In the late 60's, the Navy made all NROTC students take an attitude test. Not aptitude, but attitude. The Brass had discovered that the most successful officers were doing what they liked, not necessarily doing what they that at which they were most talented and this test was designed to find that synergy.<BR/><BR/>The results were broken into groups that had similar interests regardless of their skills. That is, ignoring your chosen major, with whom do you mentally and emotionally associate? Which other areas have similar outside interest?<BR/><BR/>Much to my chagrin, being a Physics major, I found I had virtually nothing in common with other Physics majors. To my surprise, I had 96% commonality with musicians, and 95% commonality with computer programming.<BR/><BR/>It's 1968.I already know I have no musical talent, but a lot of my friends do. What the devil is a computer programmer? And that is how it all began.<BR/><BR/>Have you ever really looked at your colleagues and noticed the number of them that are musicians or artists of some nature? It really is staggering.<BR/><BR/>There is definitely science in art. Painters know which colors to mix to create another color. Musicians know which notes combine well and which ones simply don't work. Yet, in neither case, does this knowledge create art. What appears on the canvas or music sheet is more than the sum of its parts.<BR/><BR/>The same holds true for technology. We have rules, things learned from experience that help eliminate that which doesn't work. We have techniques that have weathered the test of time. But assembling the techniques while avoiding the pitfalls is an art, not a science.<BR/><BR/>At some point, we must accept the fact that our technology, while an applied science, is only as good as the artists who create it.<BR/><BR/>Palmer KingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285729513030543746.post-63705220062260348282007-10-09T18:20:00.000-07:002007-10-09T18:20:00.000-07:00Art and science - the delineation is an artificial...Art and science - the delineation is an artificial taxonomy imposed in a Huxleyean caste fashion as though they are exclusive of each other; alphas and the gammas; in the eyes of the beholder, one better than the other. Just like there is the science of art, there also is the art of science. <BR/>Perhaps the best work on this subject is the pulitzer winning book by Hofstadter <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World" REL="nofollow">"Godel, Eschler, Bach -- an eternal golden braid"</A> where the author discusses how self-reference and formal rules allow systems to acquire meaning despite being made of "meaningless" elements. Meaning - even through scientific means is an artistic endeavor. <BR/><BR/>Every good technologist is an artist at some level. Even though the caste system may condition us to categorize people as scientists vs. artists.Sami Akbayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09233367559069185413noreply@blogger.com