1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 What I want to do today is to spend 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,000 some time talking about some stuff that's 3 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000 sort of giving me a little bit of 4 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,000 existential angst, for lack of a better word, 5 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,000 over the past couple of years, and 6 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,000 basically, these three quotes 7 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,000 tell what's going on. 8 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,000 "When God made the color purple, 9 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 God was just showing off," Alice Walker 10 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,000 wrote in "The Color Purple," and 11 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Zora Neale Hurston wrote in 12 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,000 "Dust Tracks On A Road," 13 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,000 "Research is a formalized curiosity. 14 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,000 It's poking and prying with a purpose." 15 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,000 And then finally, 16 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,000 when I think about the near future, 17 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 you know, we have this attitude, well, 18 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 whatever happens, happens. Right? 19 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,000 So that goes along with the Chesire Cat 20 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,000 saying, "If you don't care much 21 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,000 where you want to get to, 22 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,000 it doesn't much matter which way you go." 23 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,000 But I think it does matter 24 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,000 which way we go, and what road we take, 25 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 because when I think about design in the 26 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 near future, what I think are the most 27 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,000 important issues, what's really 28 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000 crucial and vital is that we need 29 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 to revitalize the arts and sciences 30 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 right now in 2002. 31 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000 (Applause) 32 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,000 If we describe the near future 33 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 as 10, 20, 15 years from now, 34 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,000 that means that what we do today 35 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,000 is going to be critically important, 36 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 because in the year 2015, 37 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000 and the year 2020, 2025, the world 38 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,000 our society is going to be building on, 39 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,000 the basic knowledge and abstract ideas, 40 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,000 the discoveries that we came up with today, 41 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,000 just as all these wonderful things we're 42 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 hearing about here at the TED conference 43 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,000 that we take for granted in the world 44 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 right now, were really knowledge 45 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,000 and ideas that came up 46 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 in the '50s, the '60s, and the '70s. 47 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 That's the substrate that we're exploiting 48 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000 today, whether it's the internet, 49 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 genetic engineering, laser scanners, 50 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 guided missiles, fiber optics, high-definition 51 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,000 television, sensing, remote-sensing 52 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,000 from space and the wonderful 53 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 remote-sensing photos that we see in 54 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 3D weaving, TV programs like Tracker, 55 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 and Enterprise, CD rewrite drives, 56 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 flatscreen, Alvin Ailey's Suite Otis, 57 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000 or Sarah Jones' "Your Revolution Will Not 58 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Be Between These Thighs," which 59 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000 by the way was banned by the FCC, 60 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,000 or ska, all of these things 61 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 without question, almost without exception, 62 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 are really based on ideas 63 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 and abstract and creativity 64 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 from years before, 65 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 so we have to ask ourselves, 66 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,000 what are we contributing to that legacy 67 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,000 right now? And when I think about it, 68 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000 I'm really worried. To be quite frank, 69 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000 I'm concerned. I'm skeptical 70 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 that we're doing very much of anything. 71 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 We're, in a sense, failing to act 72 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 in the future. We're purposefully, 73 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 consciously being laggards. 74 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,000 We're lagging behind. 75 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Frantz Fanon, who was a psychiatrist 76 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,000 from Martinique, said, "Each generation 77 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,000 must, out of relative obscurity, 78 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 discover its mission, and fulfill or betray it." 79 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,000 What is our mission? What do we have 80 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,000 to do? I think our mission is 81 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 to reconcile, to reintegrate 82 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 science and the arts, because right now 83 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,000 there's a schism that exists 84 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,000 in popular culture. You know, 85 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 people have this idea that science 86 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,000 and the arts are really separate. 87 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 We think of them as separate 88 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,000 and different things, and this idea was 89 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,000 probably introduced centuries ago, 90 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,000 but it's really becoming critical now, 91 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,000 because we're making decisions about our 92 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 society every day that, 93 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 if we keep thinking that the arts 94 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 are separate from the sciences, 95 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 and we keep thinking it's cute to say, 96 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 "I don't understand anything about this one, 97 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 I don't understand anything about the other 98 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 one," then we're going to have problems. 99 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Now I know no one here at TED 100 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,000 thinks this. All of us, we already know 101 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,000 that they're very connected, but I'm going 102 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 to let you know that some folks 103 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 in the outside world, believe it or not, 104 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 they think it's neat when they say, 105 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,000 "You know, scientists and science is not 106 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,000 creative. Maybe scientists are ingenious, 107 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,000 but they're not creative. 108 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,000 And then we have this tendency, the career 109 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 counselors and various people say things 110 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 like, "Artists are not analytical. 111 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 They're ingenious, perhaps, 112 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 but not analytical," and 113 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,000 when these concepts underly our teaching 114 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,000 and what we think about the world, 115 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000 then we have a problem, because we 116 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,000 stymie support for everything. 117 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000 By accepting this dichotomy, 118 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000 whether it's tongue-in-cheek, when 119 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000 we attempt to accommodate it in our world, 120 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 and we try to build our foundation 121 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 for the world, we're messing up the future, 122 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000 because, who wants to be uncreative? 123 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Who wants to be illogical? 124 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Talent would run from either of these fields 125 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,000 if you said you had to choose either. 126 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Then they're going to go to something 127 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,000 where they think, "Well, I can be creative 128 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,000 and logical at the same time." 129 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Now I grew up in the '60s and I'll admit it, 130 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 actually, my childhood spanned the '60s, 131 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 and I was a wannabe hippie and I always 132 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 resented the fact that I wasn't really 133 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,000 old enough to be a hippie. 134 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,000 And I know there are people here, the 135 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,000 younger generation who want to be hippies, 136 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 but people talk about the '60s all the time, 137 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 and they talk about the anarchy 138 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 that was there, but when I think about 139 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 the '60s, what I took away from it was 140 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,000 that there was hope for the future. 141 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 We thought everyone could participate. 142 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000 There were wonderful, incredible ideas 143 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 that were always percolating, 144 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000 and so much of what's cool or hot today 145 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000 is really based on some of those concepts, 146 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000 whether it's, you know, people trying to 147 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 use the prime directive from Star Trek 148 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,000 being involved in things, or again that 149 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,000 three-dimensional weaving and 150 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,000 fax machines that I read about in my 151 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000 weekly readers that the technology 152 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000 and engineering was just getting started. 153 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 But the '60s left me with a problem. 154 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000 You see, I always assumed I would go 155 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,000 into space, because I followed all of this, 156 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000 but I also loved the arts and sciences. 157 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,000 You see, when I was growing up as 158 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 a little girl and as a teenager, 159 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,000 I loved designing and making dogs' clothes 160 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 and wanting to be a fashion designer. 161 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,000 I took art and ceramics. I loved dance. 162 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Lola Falana. Alvin Ailey. Jerome Robbins. 163 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 And I also avidly followed the Gemini 164 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,000 and the Apollo programs. 165 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000 I had science projects and tons of astronomy 166 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000 books. I took calculus and philosophy. 167 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000 I wondered about the infinity 168 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 and the Big Bang theory. 169 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000 And when I was at Stanford, 170 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000 I found myself, my senior year, 171 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000 chemical engineering major, half the folks 172 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000 thought I was a political science and 173 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 performing arts major, which was sort of 174 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000 true because I was Black Student Union President 175 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 and I did major in some other things, 176 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,000 and I found myself the last quarter juggling 177 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,000 chemical engineering separation processes, 178 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,000 logic classes, nuclear magnetic resonance 179 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,000 spectroscopy, and also producing 180 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 and choreographing a dance production, 181 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 and I had to do the lighting and the 182 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,000 design work, and I was trying to figure out, 183 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,000 do I go to New York City 184 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 to try to become a professional dancer, 185 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,000 or do I go to medical school? 186 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Now, my mother helped me figure 187 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,000 that one out. (Laughter) 188 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,000 But when I went into space, 189 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,000 when I went into space I carried a number 190 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,000 of things up with me. I carried a poster 191 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,000 by Alvin Ailey, which you can figure out 192 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000 now, I love the dance company. 193 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,000 An Alvin Ailey poster of Judith Jamison 194 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 performing the dance "Cry," dedicated to all 195 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 black women everywhere. A Bundu statue, 196 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,000 which was from the Women's Society 197 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,000 in Sierra Leone, and a certificate for the 198 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,000 Chicago Public School students to work to 199 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,000 improve their science and math, 200 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 and folks asked me, 201 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,000 "Why did you take up what you took up?" 202 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 And I had to say, 203 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,000 "Because it represents human creativity, 204 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 the creativity that allowed us, that we were 205 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 required to have to conceive and build 206 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,000 and launch the space shuttle, springs from 207 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,000 the same source as the imagination and 208 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,000 analysis it took to carve a Bundu statue, 209 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,000 or the ingenuity it took to design, 210 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,000 choreograph, and stage "Cry." 211 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,000 Each one of them are different 212 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 manifestations, incarnations, of creativity, 213 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 avatars of human creativity, 214 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,000 and that's what we have to reconcile 215 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,000 in our minds, how these things fit together. 216 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,000 The difference between arts and sciences 217 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000 is not analytical versus intuitive, right? 218 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,000 E=MC squared required 219 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,000 an intuitive leap, and then you had 220 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,000 to do the analysis afterwards. 221 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Einstein said, in fact, "The most beautiful 222 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,000 thing we can experience is the mysterious. 223 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 It is the source of all true art and science." 224 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Dance requires us to express and want 225 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,000 to express the jubilation in life, but then you 226 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000 have to figure out, exactly 227 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,000 what movement do I do to make sure 228 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,000 that it comes across correctly? 229 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000 The difference between arts and sciences 230 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,000 is also not constructive versus 231 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000 deconstructive, right? A lot of people 232 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,000 think of the sciences as deconstructive. 233 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,000 You have to pull things apart. 234 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 And yeah, sub-atomic physics 235 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000 is deconstructive. You literally try to 236 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,000 tear atoms apart to understand 237 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,000 what's inside of them. But sculpture, from 238 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,000 what I understand from great sculptors, 239 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,000 is deconstructive, because you see a piece 240 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,000 and you remove what doesn't 241 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,000 need to be there. 242 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,000 Biotechnology is constructive. 243 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,000 Orchestral arranging is constructive. 244 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,000 So in fact we use constructive and 245 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,000 deconstructive techniques in everything. 246 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,000 The difference between science 247 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,000 and the arts is not that they 248 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,000 are different sides of the same coin, even, 249 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 or even different parts 250 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,000 of the same continuum, but rather 251 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,000 they're manifestations of the same thing. 252 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Different quantum states of an atom? 253 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Or maybe if I want to be more 21st century 254 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,000 I could say that they are different harmonic 255 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 resonances of a superstring. 256 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,000 But we'll leave that alone. (Laughter) 257 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,000 They spring from the same source. 258 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,000 The arts and sciences are avatars of 259 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,000 human creativity. It's our attempt 260 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,000 as humans to build an understanding 261 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,000 of the universe, the world around us. 262 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 It's our attempt to influence things, 263 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 the universe internal to ourselves 264 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,000 and external to us. 265 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 The sciences, to me, are manifestations 266 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,000 of our attempt to express 267 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,000 or share our understanding, 268 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,000 our experience, to influence the universe 269 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 external to ourselves. 270 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,000 It doesn't rely on us as individuals. 271 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,000 It's the universe, as experienced 272 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,000 by everyone, and the arts manifest 273 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,000 our desire, our attempt to share 274 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,000 or influence others through experiences 275 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 that are peculiar to us as individuals. 276 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,000 Let me say it again another way: 277 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,000 science provides an understanding 278 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 of a universal experience, and 279 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000 arts provides a universal understanding 280 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,000 of a personal experience. 281 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,000 That's what we have to think about, 282 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,000 that they're all part of us, they're 283 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,000 all part of a continuum. 284 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,000 It's not just the tools, it's not just 285 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 the sciences, you know, the mathematics 286 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,000 and the numerical stuff and the statistics, 287 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,000 because we heard, very much on this 288 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,000 stage, people talked about music 289 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,000 being mathematical. Right? Arts don't just 290 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,000 use clay, aren't the only ones that use clay, 291 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,000 light and sound and movement. 292 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 They use analysis as well. 293 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,000 So people might say, well, 294 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,000 I still like that intuitive versus analytical 295 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,000 thing, because everybody wants to do the 296 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,000 right brain, left brain thing, right? 297 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,000 We've all been accused of being 298 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,000 right-brained or left-brained at some point 299 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,000 in time, depending on who 300 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,000 we disagreed with. (Laughter) 301 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,000 You know, people say intuitive, you know 302 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,000 that's like you're in touch with nature, 303 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,000 in touch with yourself and relationships. 304 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Analytical: you put your mind to work, and 305 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 I'm going to tell you a little secret. You all 306 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 know this though, but sometimes people 307 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,000 use this analysis idea, that things are 308 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,000 outside of ourselves, to be, say, that this 309 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,000 is what we're going to elevate 310 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,000 as the true, most important sciences, right? 311 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,000 And then you have artists, and you all 312 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,000 know this is true as well, 313 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,000 artists will say things about scientists 314 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,000 because they say they're too concrete, 315 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,000 they're disconnected with the world. 316 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,000 But, we've even had that here on stage, 317 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,000 so don't act like you don't know 318 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,000 what I'm talking about. (Laughter) 319 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,000 We had folks talking about the Flat Earth 320 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,000 Society and flower arrangers, so there's 321 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 this whole dichotomy that we continue 322 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,000 to carry along, even when we know better. 323 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000 And folks say we need to choose either or. 324 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,000 But it would really be foolish to choose 325 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,000 either one, right? 326 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,000 Intuitive versus analytical? 327 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,000 That's a foolish choice. It's foolish, 328 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,000 just like trying to choose between 329 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,000 being realistic or idealistic. 330 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,000 You need both in life. Why do people 331 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,000 do this? I'm just gonna quote 332 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,000 a molecular biologist, Sydney Brenner, 333 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,000 who's 70 years old so he can say this. He said, 334 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,000 "It's always important to distinguish 335 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,000 between chastity and impotence." 336 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 Now... (Laughter) 337 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,000 I want to share with you 338 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 a little equation, okay? 339 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,000 How do understanding science 340 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,000 and the arts fit into our lives 341 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000 and what's going on and the things 342 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,000 that we're talking about here 343 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,000 at the design conference, and this is 344 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000 a little thing I came up with, understanding 345 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,000 and our resources and our will 346 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,000 cause us to have outcomes. 347 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000 Our understanding is our science, our arts, 348 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,000 our religion, how we see the universe 349 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,000 around us, our resources, our money, 350 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 our labor, our minerals, those things 351 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000 that are out there in the world we have 352 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 to work with. 353 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000 But more importantly, there's our will. 354 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000 This is our vision, our aspirations 355 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,000 of the future, our hopes, our dreams, 356 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000 our struggles and our fears. 357 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Our successes and our failures influence 358 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,000 what we do with all of those, and to me, 359 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000 design and engineering, craftsmanship and 360 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,000 skilled labor, are all the things that work on 361 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000 this to have our outcome, 362 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,000 which is our human quality of life. 363 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,000 Where do we want the world to be? 364 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,000 And guess what? 365 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Regardless of how we look at this, whether 366 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,000 we look at arts and sciences are separate 367 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,000 or different, they're both being influenced 368 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,000 now and they're both having problems. 369 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,000 I did a project called S.E.E.ing the Future: 370 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,000 Science, Engineering and Education, and 371 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,000 it was looking at how to shed light on 372 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,000 most effective use of government funding. 373 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,000 We got a bunch of scientists in all stages 374 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,000 of their careers. They came to Dartmouth 375 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,000 College, where I was teaching, and they 376 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 talked about with theologians and financiers, 377 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,000 what are some of the issues of public 378 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000 funding for science and engineering 379 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000 research? What's most important about it? 380 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,000 There are some ideas that emerged that 381 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,000 I think have really powerful parallels 382 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,000 to the arts. The first thing they said was that 383 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,000 the circumstances that we find ourselves in 384 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000 today in the sciences and engineering that 385 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,000 made us world leaders is very different 386 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,000 than the '40s, the '50s, and the '60s 387 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,000 and the '70s when we emerged 388 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000 as world leaders, because we're no longer 389 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,000 in competition with fascism, with 390 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000 Soviet-style communism, and by the way 391 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,000 that competition wasn't just military, 392 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,000 it included social competition 393 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000 and political competition as well, 394 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000 that allowed us to look at space 395 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000 as one of those platforms to prove 396 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,000 that our social system was better. 397 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,000 Another thing they talked about was the 398 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,000 infrastructure that supports the sciences 399 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,000 is becoming obsolete. We look at 400 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,000 universities and colleges, small, mid-sized 401 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 community colleges across the country, 402 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,000 their laboratories are becoming obsolete, 403 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,000 and this is where we train most of our 404 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,000 science workers and our researchers, 405 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,000 and our teachers, by the way, 406 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,000 and then that there's a media that doesn't 407 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,000 support the dissemination of any more than 408 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,000 the most mundane and inane of information. 409 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000 There's pseudo-science, crop circles, 410 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,000 alien autopsy, haunted houses, 411 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000 or disasters. And that's what we see. 412 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,000 And this isn't really the information 413 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,000 you need to operate in everyday life 414 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,000 and figure out how to participate in this 415 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,000 democracy and determine what's going on. 416 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,000 They also said that there's a change 417 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000 in the corporate mentality. Whereas 418 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,000 government money had always been there 419 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,000 for basic science and engineering research, 420 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,000 we also counted on some companies to do 421 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,000 some basic research, but what's happened 422 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,000 now is companies put more energy into 423 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 short-term product development 424 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,000 than they do in basic engineering 425 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,000 and science research. 426 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,000 And education is not keeping up. 427 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,000 In K through 12, people are taking out 428 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,000 wet labs. They think if we put a computer 429 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000 in the room it's going to take the place 430 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,000 of actually, we're mixing the acids, 431 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,000 we're growing the potatoes. 432 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,000 And government funding is decreasing 433 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,000 in spending and then they're saying, 434 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,000 let's have corporations take over, 435 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,000 and that's not true. Government funding 436 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,000 should at least do things like recognize 437 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,000 cost-benefits of basic science and 438 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,000 engineering research. We have to know 439 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,000 that we have a responsibility 440 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000 as global citizens in this world. 441 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,000 We have to look at the education 442 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,000 of humans. We need to build our resources 443 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,000 today to make sure that they're trained so 444 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,000 that they understand the importance of 445 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000 these things, and we have to support 446 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,000 the vitality of science, and that doesn't 447 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,000 mean that everything has to have one thing 448 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,000 that's going to go on, or we know 449 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000 exactly what's going to be the outcome of it, 450 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000 but that we support the vitality and the 451 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000 intellectual curiosity that goes along, 452 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,000 and if you think about those parallels 453 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000 to the arts, the competition 454 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,000 with the Bolshoi Ballet spurred 455 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000 the Joffrey and the New York City Ballet 456 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,000 to become better. 457 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Infrastructure museums, theaters, 458 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,000 movie houses across the country 459 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,000 are disappearing. We have more 460 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,000 television stations with less to watch, 461 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,000 we have more money spent on 462 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 rewrites to get old television programs 463 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000 in the movies. 464 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,000 We have corporate funding now that, 465 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000 when it goes to some company, when it 466 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,000 goes to support the arts, it almost requires 467 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,000 that the product be part of the picture 468 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,000 that the artist draws, and we have 469 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000 stadiums that are named over and over 470 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 again by corporations. 471 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 In Houston, we're trying to figure out 472 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,000 what to do with that Enron Stadium thing. 473 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,000 (Laughter) And fine arts and education 474 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000 in the schools is disappearing, and we have 475 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,000 a government that seems like it's gutting 476 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,000 the NEA and other programs, 477 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,000 so we have to really stop and think, 478 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000 what are we trying to do 479 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000 with the sciences and the arts? 480 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,000 There's a need to revitalize them. 481 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000 We have to pay attention to it. I just want 482 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,000 to tell you really quickly what I'm doing. 483 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:27,000 (Applause) 484 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,000 I want to tell you what I've been doing 485 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,000 a little bit since... I feel this need 486 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,000 to sort of integrate some of the ideas 487 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,000 that I've had and run across over time. 488 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 One of the things that I found out 489 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 is that there's a need to repair 490 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000 the dichotomy between the mind and body 491 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,000 as well. My mother always told me, 492 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000 you have to be observant, know what's 493 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000 going on in your mind and your body, 494 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000 and as a dancer I had this tremendous 495 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000 faith in my ability to know my body, 496 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,000 just as I knew how to sense colors. 497 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Then I went to medical school, and I was 498 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,000 supposed to just go on 499 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000 what the machine said about bodies. 500 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,000 You know, you would ask patients 501 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,000 questions and some people would tell you, 502 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,000 "Don't, don't, don't listen to what 503 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000 the patients said." We know that patients 504 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,000 know and understand their bodies better, 505 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000 but these days we're trying to divorce them 506 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000 from that idea. We have to reconcile the 507 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000 patient's knowledge of their body 508 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,000 with physician's measurements. 509 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,000 We had someone talk about 510 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000 measuring emotions and getting machines 511 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,000 to figure out what, to keep us 512 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,000 from acting crazy. Right? 513 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000 No, we shouldn't measure, 514 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000 we shouldn't use machines 515 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,000 to measure road rage and then do 516 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,000 something to keep us from engaging in it. 517 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,000 Maybe we can have machines help us 518 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,000 to recognize that we have road rage and 519 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000 then we need to know how to control that 520 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,000 without the machines. We even need to be 521 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000 able to recognize that without the machines. 522 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000 What I'm very concerned about 523 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000 is how do we bolster our self-awareness 524 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,000 as humans, as biological organisms? 525 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,000 Michael Moschen spoke of having to teach 526 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,000 and learn how to feel with my eyes, 527 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,000 to see with my hands. 528 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,000 We have all kinds of possibilities to use 529 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,000 our senses by, and that's 530 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000 what we have to do. 531 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 That's what I want to do, is to try to use 532 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,000 bioinstrumentation, those kind of things 533 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,000 to help our senses in what we do, 534 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,000 and that's the work I've been doing now as 535 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000 a company called BioSentient Corporation. 536 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000 I figured I'd have to do that ad, because 537 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000 I'm an entrepreneur, because entrepreneur 538 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,000 says that that's somebody who does what 539 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000 they want to do because they're not broke 540 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000 enough that they have to get a real job. 541 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,000 (Laughter) But that's the work I'm doing 542 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000 with BioSentient Corporation trying to figure 543 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,000 out how do we integrate these things? 544 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Let me finish by saying that 545 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 my personal design issue for the future 546 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,000 is really about integrating, to think about 547 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,000 that intuitive and that analytical. 548 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000 The arts and sciences are not separate. 549 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,000 High school physics lesson before you 550 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000 leave. High school physics teacher used to 551 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,000 hold up a ball. She would say this ball 552 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,000 has potential energy, but nothing 553 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,000 will happen to it, it can't do any work 554 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,000 until I drop it and it changes states. 555 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000 I like to think of ideas as potential energy. 556 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000 They're really wonderful, but nothing 557 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,000 will happen until we risk 558 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,000 putting them into action. 559 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,000 This conference is filled 560 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,000 with wonderful ideas. 561 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000 We're going to share lots of things 562 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,000 with people, but nothing's going to happen 563 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,000 until we risk putting those ideas into action. 564 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000 We need to revitalize the arts and sciences 565 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000 of today, we need to take responsibility 566 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000 for the future. We can't hide behind saying 567 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000 it's just for company profits, 568 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,000 or it's just a business, or I'm an artist 569 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,000 or an academician. 570 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,000 Here's how you judge what you're doing. 571 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,000 I talked about that balance between 572 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000 intuitive, analytical. 573 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,000 Fran Lebowitz, my favorite cynic, 574 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000 she said the three questions 575 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,000 of greatest concern, now I'm going to 576 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,000 add on to design, is, 577 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,000 "Is it attractive?" 578 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,000 That's the intuitive. 579 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,000 "Is it amusing?" The analytical. 580 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000 "And does it know its place?" 581 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000 The balance. Thank you very much. 582 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 (Applause)