An article by Jonah Lehrer, written in 2008, recently appeared on SEED — Jonah called for a collaboration between contemporary arts & sciences and suggested that realm of science should be more open to the artist and his interpretations of life, since artistic insights often lead to the discovery of truths.

I couldn't agree more. I cannot, however, agree that science should become more humanized. In fact, the premise of the big idea that I call "the Operating System" is about what happens when one becomes truly scientifically literate, and truly embraces it. As Neil deGrasse Tyson said, "If you're scientifically literate, the world looks very different to you". And thus, so does truth.


An understanding of science and some imagination give new form to ancient, tightly-held, human concepts: what are love, curiosity, enlightenment, awe, fear, now that we know a so much more about the world than even fifty years ago? It's constantly stated that scientific understanding is reductionist... but is that right? Or are we, for the most part, just a little afraid of the new images associated with these old sentiments, or worse, lacking new, replacement images & metaphors altogether?


This is where the new art must come in. Human-centric understanding was useful when it was all we had, but our experience is changing and expanding, constantly and drastically. It is not only the scientists that need suggestion from artists for how to visualize new invisibles, but even more so, the laymen need the artist's imagination to guide them in engaging with other modes of perception, in stepping outside of their human-sized bodies, metaphors, & world-views. For the willing contemporary artist, the job is now to change—not necessarily the sciences , as Jonah would have it—but the humanities. The latter need to catch up. It's possible to think different.