Art, Frustration, and Science for Science's Sake.

Art and Science seem to be seen as antagonistic within society. Those who are artists may see the scientist as an incomprehensible robot, devoid of imagination or flair in their quest for knowledge. The scientist may see the artist as an incomprehensible bum, devoid of utility or practical knowledge. However, both are intricately linked to our desires and ideas. Art tries to create and cultivates them. Science attempts to make them a reality.

Art is the attempt to create a secondary, preferable world, and let it rest inside the mind. It can be a relaxing world formed through music, or a heroic adventure viewed in film, or a utopian fantasy created by the written word. This needn't be every piece of art's purpose. The art needn't even have purpose. However, this formation of a secondary world of desire is one of the main and most successful purposes of art.

Science on the other hand, is an attempt to make these desires into tangible realisations. It does not create imaginary worlds for us to play with like art. Science uses natural laws and discoveries to make this world a physically improved place. It is a force for physical and technological change in this world, the creator of improved tools and improved weapons.

Science fiction is the overlap between the two. It deals specifically with desires that science can create, such as time travel, space travel and intelligent robots. It acts as both a crystal ball and a guiding beacon; revealing what science could try and simultaneously suggesting it. It is art on a scientific theme, bedazzling us with tales of time machines and super-intelligent robots, and often taking artistic license with science itself.

However, dues to some of its claims to be prophetic visions of the future, science fiction is often treated as whimsy or literary trash. When it predicted flying cars and pill-food, but none materialised, disappointment and ridicule was the result. This frustration is unique to science fiction because of the way it combines science and art. The imagination of the human species is boundless and our desires infinite, but the rate of scientific progress remains finite. Therefore the scientist and science itself is in an eternal game of catch-up, constantly trying to meet our insatiable demand for faster, better and more exciting things. Meanwhile the consumer is forever disappointed with the demands left unsatisfied. The advance of science breeds speculation and new possibilities for our mind to consider and cultivate in science fiction and art, but then means some of these desires will be left unfulfilled, and frustration is bred.

However, this frustration is a wrongful one. It is ungrateful and spoilt to accuse science of being too slow. Science has delivered incredible improvements in our quality and length of life. In 1840s England, the average life expectancy was 39. It is now 80 years. Science has done great work improving the human condition, and will continue to.

Some may argue that while science has created a better world, it has not created the more interesting and fantastic world promised by science fiction. Therefore, while the frustration cannot be justified on utility, it can be on grounds of style and incredibility. However, anybody who stops to think about the modern world will find it competes with the best science-fiction novels on every level of absurdity. A fact that Laurie Penny points out in in this wonderful essay:

“[You are absurd] reading these words through the damp flesh meniscus of the eyes you were born with, from a backlit screen skinning a device that contains more computing power than the first moon shuttle. So am I, writing them on my smartphone on a rattling New York subway train deep underground. What we’re doing right now is patently absurd, splendidly quotidian and unlikely, and yet this is how we communicate, you and me.”

Science is not only an effective tool for positive change, but a beautiful and absurd one as well.

So how do we stop this frustration? How do you stop yourself taking for granted the wonders science has given us? How do you prevent the disappointment when science doesn’t meet the expectations you had when you were a child?

The first aspect of the solution is to stop expecting that science can solve everything. Science can work the occasional “miracle” but most of the time technological advances require good human handling for society to fully benefit. Science can only compensate for human ignorance and failure so much, as anybody who has argued with staunch fundamentalists can attest. Science has improved food production to the extent there is enough food to feed everyone, but the structural inequalities and human excess of the world act as obstacles to solving world hunger. There are human faults at play as well. Before you ask, “Why hasn’t science solved this like I thought it would?” also ask, “What can I do to solve this?” One way to stop frustration at the supposed faults of science is to realise some of its faults are ours.

The second way is to not expect Science to follow the whimsy and imagination of art and science fiction, but allow it to tread its own path. Do not follow science in the hope of certain discoveries such as hover-cars and pill-food. Science is unpredictable and discovery is an untamable beast, seemingly appearing upon the whim of the universe. 

Instead, appreciate and do science for science’s sake. Enjoy science because it elegantly boils down this huge complex world into simple equation and small particles. Enjoy science because it is one of the drums to which our knowledge marches forward. Enjoy science because without it we would never adventure into the unknown void, and live in the wrongful complacency of ignorance. In the words of Thomas Huxley:

“The known is the finite, the unknown the infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the middle of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land”

Science has contributed greatly to this world and will continue to. However, the rate at which these changes come will be slow compared to the desires and ideas placed upon science. In order to avoid the disappointment and misery that will inevitably arise when some of these are left unfulfilled, we need to think about and appreciate the wonders science has already left us. Secondly, we need to realise that not all of these desires can be achieved purely through science and technological change, political and social change may be required as well. Finally, and most importantly, we need to realise that science has a function beyond tangible benefits. It is the biggest road on the quest for knowledge, and it should be walked down simply because doing so is educating and, quite often, beautiful.