The Juxtaposition of Three Tribes

Uniting Fine Arts, Engineering and Technology

According to popularly held beliefs, Art is often referred to as chaotic,

unstructured and entirely un-methodical as opposed to Sciences
more methodical, data-driven and well-structured procedures; hence
the age long rivalry between both fields. Although the arts may not be
subjected to as many experimental methods as the sciences, its final
results are borne out of creativity and intelligent processes; something
both branches have in common.
Another popular conception of both fields is the description of arts as
affective, intuitive, and subjective while science is cognitive, logical
and objective. This means the arts seek to appeal to our emotional
states and strives to affect our behaviors/attitudes and the sciences
deal more with our rational thought processes. Both concepts, though
may seem contradictory, are actually complementary to each other.
As said by the celebrated entrepreneur Steve Jobs Successful
innovators use both right side and left side of their brains. One
famous innovator (and my favourite) who seemed to possess this
attributes even at a time when technology resources were limited was
Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo was said to be a mathematician,
engineer, anatomist, musician, painter and sculptor just to mention a
few. As an Artist, Leonardo was known to be a curious and observant
person. He was constantly writing down and sketching his
observations. He drew ideas from many sources to improve and
perfect his art. As a Scientist, Leonardo kept seeking ways to transcend
the depths of artwork. He delved into science and studied anatomy
and naturally occurring phenomena. He was always asking questions
and deriving logical solutions to problems. He used the anatomy of
birds to design a flying ship and the protective shell of the tortoise to
develop an armored vehicle.
Since the 1960s, and especially in the last few years, the overlap
between fine arts, mathematics, engineering and other disciplines has
grown. Origami-type folding principles have been used to make
folding mirrors,such as those on the James Webb Space Telescope.
The same general idea has been applied to make foldable solar panels
and other contraptions that need to be tucked away and then
unfurled;one solar array designed as such was used in the Himawari 8
Japanese weather satellite that was launched in 1995. The Miura fold,
in fact, helped increase the efficiency of the solar panels by 17%.

With all that we have to address in the world warming continents,

fluctuating economies, monstrous cities pursuing scientific
questions in tandem with artists and engineers may not seem like
conventional wisdom. But given the unconventional nature and scale
of the problems we face today, there is real value to be gained from
collaborations that bridge the best talents we have in both the
quantitative and qualitative domains. Artists and designers are the
ones who help bring humanity front and center, make us care, and
create answers that resonate with our values.