Would you rather be an artist or engineer?
This is a question I often ask myself on trains and planes or as I lay in the still solitude of my bed. Do I want to create art so beautiful, so inspirational that people actually enjoy life a little bit more? Do I want to develop infrastructure and technology that provides clean drinking water for the billions without?
In this crafted and cultured world, this world without boundaries that we have persisted in creating and destroying over ten long, illustrious millennia, which is more important: art or engineering?
Which was more instrumental: myth and wisdom — or creating fire?
The Bible — or the Roman Empire?
Michaelangelo’s David – or Kodak’s film camera?
Band Aid’s Feed The World — or a network of satellites that enable global communication?
Lennon’s Imagine – or Apple’s iTunes?
Art or engineering?
Do I want to be the person that enables and improves the lives of millions through advancing technology? Should I be the one that converts magic, wished-for technologies into the accessibly mundane?
Or should I be the culmination, the end point, the person that uses contemporary technologies to create art? Art that resonates within and amplifies emotions; art that triggers further explosions of creativity until we have a more beautiful world.
I keep trying to be both an artist and an engineer but I fear that it’s time to choose just one.
Michelangelo or Edison.
Einstein or Plato.
floreta
Aug 12, 2009
awww you can still be both! i know a talented photographer who graduated with an engineer degree (in fact, you follow him on twitter, upon my #followfriday recommendation). i definitely think art and engineering can bridge gaps.. and i see the similarities between the two. both are highly creative endeavors.
Rachel
Aug 12, 2009
The artist has the dreams…the engineer makes it a reality.
miss rambles
Aug 12, 2009
i don’t see why you could not do a bit of both.at the end of the day they are sort of incorporated (does tht make sense) i like how rachel put it!!!! the artist has the idea/dream and the engineer makes it a reality therefore incorporated as one:)
Tina Mammoser
Aug 12, 2009
If I had the ability and the energy, engineer any day. But I’m weird and if I could go back in time I’d have stuck with the maths degree the first time around and gone into research.
As an artist, my point of view is in the minority I believe – I feel funding research and development in science and technology is far far more important than public funding of art.
The BEST engineers and scientists though as the most creative ones! The ones willing to step over the line; the ones who think not only laterally but usually in crooked lines.
So there’s a lot of artist in them.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
I didn’t flesh this out fully for a reason (I have a lot more ideas on the topic… but I felt like throwing it out there first!)
Both artists and engineers are CREATIVE. Both can be fulfilling, enjoyable. Both are rewarding and ‘good’ roles to have in society.
The question I found myself asking was this though: artists dream the new realities and engineers create them, there is obviously symbiosis involved — but which one do I want to be?
It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. You need both of them to forward humanity/civilisation. But it’s very, very specific technologies that might make or break the lives of 6 billion people (the silicon chip, fibre optics, genetic research).
It also comes down to whether the artist has the ability to actually make himself HEARD. Perhaps people fall back on artistry as an ‘easy’ solution to creativity — perhaps those are the artists that create art in the attic for an entire lifetime but are never really heard or listened to.
Anyway, it’s a topic I will be looking at more I think
Hezabelle
Aug 12, 2009
Interesting question. For me, it’s always been art because I’m not a very good practical thinker. I appreciate things like fire, telecommunications and iTunes, sure, but in terms of what I want to do it’s not really an option since I’m too much of an imaginative person.
The practical side does seem to make more money though…
I feel like you could do one for a job, another for more of a hobby. Balance them out.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
How is art ‘more imaginative’?
What kind of imagination do you think was required to go from flying-kite-in-electrical-storm to lighting-a-filament-in-inert-gas?
Tangible things have always made more money (in the short term), but you probably have to think on a much larger scale to appreciate the ‘value’ of artistic creation.
I do both of them currently, in some capacity; I am more just wondering which one should take precedence
Should I think, or should I do.
Jill Pilgrim
Aug 12, 2009
I would choose C) Adult Film Actress because that’s really the most practical. And awesome. I jest, I would of course choose engineer as math is kind of my thing and I am not at all artistically inclined. Oh? You weren’t asking what I would choose? Well, then.
Jossie Posie
Aug 12, 2009
I hate these kinds of decisions especially because I feel that there is really no need to choose one or the other. Just because you are an engineer by trade doesn’t mean you can’t be an artist as well. They aren’t mutually exclusive Seb. Not many things in life are. The great Renaissance masters were not just artists they too were engineers, scientists, etc.
You should do what you love even if its both. What an amazing world you would make…clean drinking water and breathtaking art.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
But which one is more IMPORTANT? Which one should I dedicate more time to?
Both obviously have the power to change the world (for good, or bad — haha) — but which one?
Don’t get me wrong, I _am_ both, I’ve been torn on this subject since school, when I didn’t have enough time to do both the sciences and the arts. The computer programming, the creative writing. The photography, the electronic engineering…
I just don’t think you can master both at the same time — perhaps I can do one for the first 50 years, and another for the next…
Jossie Posie
Aug 12, 2009
Seb I really don’t agree with that, I think you can master both. And you should allow your enjoyment of it to dictate which one you dedicate more time to. You can start off 50/50 and overtime it’ll shift depending on what really matters to you.
I don’t think one if more important than the other, they both, as you said, have the power to change the world.
This is a question that always sets me off because I hate that we are forced to choose, and quite frankly I don’t think you should.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
Well, I am 50/50. Both matter to me.
What I am trying to work out is which direction I will shift in
I’m not talking about picking a career or making other ‘dirty’ choices that we are ‘forced’ to make in modern society.
LiLu
Aug 12, 2009
Both. Web designer! FTW.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
Hah.
I did that for 12 years; the start of this blog actually heralded the end of my web design career!
It gets old, trust me
Justin (Oats)
Aug 12, 2009
As a scientist who had to make that decision long ago: music or science, obviously the coin landed in favor of science because I thought I could still pursue the arts such as music, photography, etc. But where the real challenge comes in is mastering both. While I’ve mastered the science end of things as much as I can for now, for in science learning and mastery never end, I am still learning much about music and photography. I use them now as my outlet, however, there is always art found in science and engineering.
As you’ve said before, it takes a creative mind to be a GOOD engineer or scientist. Any monkey can repeat protocols and run experiments, but it takes a creative mind to think outside of the box and apply what is known to the unknown in order to piece things together.
I think the ultimate question you are facing is not about art and science, but rather about philosophy. Do you take the path of the dreamers and the thinkers, or do you take the path of those who produce> is not a justifiably question in this day and age, because in order to produce, you must think, regardless of whether you produce art or architecture.
I say, do what is most challenging for you. Something that won’t bore you in ten years. Step out of your comfort zone a little and get to be great at one, but stay good at the other. That way you will always be satisfied.
timoteo
Aug 12, 2009
ooh, tough question to answer when I haven’t had my coffee. Anyway, both greatly impact society, albeit by different methods, but the scope of the work is societal. Im going to cop out and go on lunch break. good luck.
Hannah
Aug 12, 2009
personally I lean towards the creative arts instead of engineering.
But you can do both…..look at architecture. I would classify that as artful engineering.
You should do whatever fulfills you the most. Whatever you are happiest doing and whatever brings you the most satisfaction.
sebastian
Aug 12, 2009
My mother brought up architecture when I asked her the same question yesterday, Hannah! I am struggling hard to think of another job that has such close ties between art and engineering though… perhaps I should be an architect?
Come back when you’ve had some coffee, Timoteo! I’m interested in hearing your full, expanded reasoning. Clarify what you mean by the work being societal…!
I think you hit the nail on the head, Oats. And thinking of creative solutions or new slants on common problems is what tickles me the most. I guess that makes me an engineer.
… an engineer that likes art…
Eric
Aug 13, 2009
A great question, one I’ve wondered about but always lean a certain way towards. Probably because I’m not inclined to do much through the material world.
Lennon over iTunes any day, by the way.
Eleni
Aug 13, 2009
A question I have struggled with at length. My major was in engineering, but my loves were dancing, music, and theater. The engineering side of it has an immediate, clear necessity, while the art side I think is generally recognized as being more fun and more interesting to other people. Is it better to be needed or wanted? The first is more financially stable, but if you’re passionate about art and if you can make it (there’s a big “if”), maybe it would lead to a happier life. I guess how fulfilling each path is depends on one’s success, which is very difficult to predict.
It’s hard to say, and unfortunately we can’t live our life through and then start over with a new character in a different class
sebastian
Aug 13, 2009
Ah, there you are Eleni! I actually had you in mind as I wrote this — you and a bunch of other RL friends that also have this art/science split in their lives. I think we’re naturally drawn to both (as they are the ultimate end of creativity) but, like using our left or right hand, we’re forced to make a choice…!
Needed or wanted — perfect turn of phrase!
Re: satisfaction — I wonder if Einstein was fulfilled? Or the guy that invented penicillin? Or Graham Bell and the modern-day goons at Bell Labs?
Or are people just doing their ‘job’? I wonder if they slept soundly at night knowing that they had saved or helped billions of people…
You know, I’d probably choose iTunes, monsieur Eric
A bit like ‘teach a man how to fish…’
timoteo
Aug 13, 2009
And I’m back from the coffee break. I guess the only other way I can say it is that both the engineer and the artist produce something that is greater than themselves. Artists and engineers are creators in society, the don’t necessarily take from society, they give it something….Have you ever read Atlas Shrugged? It’s heavy into objectivism, but it at least give an interesting view on engineers or artists or innovators, and how they are essentially the “engine” of the world. Ok off for another coffee break!
sebastian
Aug 13, 2009
I’ve read Atlas Shrugged; a girlfriend made me!
I get your logic, I understand you entirely!
This post was just an early, tentative reaching into the topic… more will follow
timoteo
Aug 14, 2009
Good, I’m hoping we can talk this out more, reach some common ground, agree to disagree, and become better people because of it…. That was lame on my part.
Bhchristensen
Aug 18, 2009
I think there’s art in engineering. But I see your point. Sometimes in life to be great at one thing, we have to give up another. I also just finished reading a book at exceling at your career though and it was recommended that you always make time for what you care about outside of your career. So maybe you should be both, and just drink more caffiene?
sebastian
Aug 18, 2009
And there is engineering in art…!
For example, Michelangelo’s David required detailed knowledge of marble and its strengths, its weaknesses, its faults!
But yes, it’s easier to observe the art in engineering, so people notice that more often
I am hanging on to my one cup of coffee a day. I’ve seen people go down the road of caffeine dependence…
Bhchristensen
Aug 18, 2009
Hmm I must challenge your previously asked question of why I would want to be your ‘friend’ with – who wouldn’t? You’re fascinating and full of insight.
Oh yeah, and I already have a caffiene addiction. Dont judge me. : ] But my weakness is diet coke, not coffee.
Bhchristensen
Aug 18, 2009
I think the photo that has assigned itself to by my picture is rather fitting. I look just like that in the morning.
sebastian
Aug 18, 2009
Wow, are those cooking gloves… or lobster hands?!
I always ask why people want to be my friend, Ms. Christensen. Purely because I hate the online habit of FRIENDING everyone. I like to at least try and know everyone I’m friends with. Or at least inspire them to care about who they are friending
Kali
Aug 21, 2009
I think you should be an engineer. To be honest you seem ever so slightly more of that bent.
Also, the less artists the less competition for me!
Daniel Cassidy
Nov 18, 2009
Don’t be daft. Pick Da Vinci.
sebastian
Nov 18, 2009
Da Vinci indeed… I wonder if he would’ve been such a genius in today’s day and age. Wonder how his genius compares to Graham Bell or similar.
Also wonder how many geniuses there were in the olden days, just we will never hear about them because of a) no telephone/electricity and b) the Church…!