Art Is Technology : Technology Is Art

One of my favorite thinkers of all time, is a man named Robert Anton Wilson.

He was an author of many books - one of them being The Illuminati Papers, which, from my understanding, is a very strange and random book that he wrote in the '70's, lol.

In this book, he covers a wide spectrum of topics, but I wanted to share an article with the same exact title as this blog post (from page 143 in the book), that really resonated with me.

After reading the article, go on to read my interpretation of what I think Robert was saying:

Art Is Technology : Technology Is Art

Art consists of those sciences and technologies that are self-justifying, that delight the apprehension of the beholder.

Science and technology consist of those arts that allow us to understand and alter our circumstances.

Stravinsky was quite correct in calling himself a sound engineer: Jacob Bronowski was equally justified in calling Newton and Einstein great artists. These are demarcations but there are aslo overlaps.

The criteria for juding art can only be subjective or statistical. One can say subjectively that the artwork delights oneself, or one can say statistically that it delights x percent of the population. Saying anything beyond this is the piffle and humbug of professional critics justifying their jobs.

The criteria for judging science and technology are objective and sometimes also statistical. One can say that certain sciences have objectively enhanced life, and that others have been a blight and a pestilence; and one can estimate the percentage of objective benefit or objective harm in a given technology at a given time.

Artists who cannot speak science are partially illiterate; scientists who cannot speak art are partially illiterate.

Alright, so I decided to interpret what this article was saying and translate it into terms that are a little easier to understand.

Here is my interpretation:

If we are afraid of something bad happening, either to us or someone else, then art can help us work through that, and therefore, the science and technology that makes art possible, doesn't need to be justified - it's irrefutably benefical.

With the same token, art helps us gain invaluable insights about life, and therefore, has a direct contribution to science and technology because it allows us to determine where to focus our efforts in order to improve our circumstances.

Artists can be thought of as "Sensual Engineers", and scientists can be thought of as "Technological Artists". These ideas help us gain a better understanding of how art and science are different, but it also helps us to understand how they are the same.

Judgements about art are only opinions because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Critics only know what they're talking about, to the extent that other people agree with them - whether a piece of artwork is good or not, is completely subjective. The only thing that we CAN regard as fact, is how MANY people did or didn't like that piece of artwork.

Juding science and technology, on the other hand, is a little more objective because whether a particular science or technology is useful or not, can be easily determined with one question, "did it help us reach the outcome we sought after or did it move us further away from it?" As with art, we can also determine how many people perceive that a particular science or technology did or didn't benefit them, and that statistic can be regarded as fact as well.

It is critical that artists and scientists learn about each other's world in depth, because art and science have a very intimate relationship with each other - even if we are not aware of it.

Ok, so I know that was a lot to digest, but I think that these musings are right on the money.

If you feel that I have misinterpreted the words of Mr. Wilson, please give me some feedback so that I may revise my interpretation.

With that said, can you see how this article can help us to understand how art and science are connected?

I posted this particular content as food for thought, as something to challenge our thinking - so I'd love to hear about any insights you might've gotten from it :)

Keep an eye out for another post from me today, because I've got a lot on my mind!

I'll talk to you soon.

Eddie