MovieChat Forums > Tomorrowland (2015) Discussion > Scientists and Artists are Nothing Alike...

Scientists and Artists are Nothing Alike...

posted 9 years ago by Innsmouth
17 replies | jump to latest

I understand what the movie was trying to say, and I'm not saying scientists can't be artists or create art, but the fundamental spirit of both can not be more opposite to one another. Science works within boundaries, within the confines of knowledge, probability, what many refer to as "reality." New discoveries redefine the properties of these terms, but they are always in play.

Artists open up doors to the unseen. That which can not be tested or proven or predicted by anything in this world. Artists are not burdened by the common perception of "reality." Artists go where scientists can never dream of following. It's a big difference.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] GSmith9072 9 years ago

Scientists actually do things other than make things for people to look at.

BUGS

[–] aimless-46 9 years ago

The operative word in the film and its theme is "dreamers"; whether they be lyrical or empirical. Your comment is completely absurd and a bit embarrassing; in trying to convince yourself that you are some profound thinker your pretentious babble only manages to illustrate to observers your self-delusion.

[–] Innsmouth 9 years ago

The operative word in the film and its theme is "dreamers"; whether they be lyrical or empirical. Your comment is completely absurd and a bit embarrassing; in trying to convince yourself that you are some profound thinker your pretentious babble only manages to illustrate to observers your self-delusion.

Well actually that was the most pretentious way of saying "you're wrong" without actually saying anything of value you could have possibly said. So good job on that.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] Soodinum 9 years ago

Scientists engage in huge amounts of "imagining" of things that are as yet unknown, unseen, and untestable. You might have missed all that.

A lot of that involves the same creative mechanism that artists use.

[–] aimless-46 9 years ago

Exactly, and both science and art are inherently derivative. Which is why they say "Cubism has been considered the most influential art movement of the 20th century", influential being the key word. And even Picasso did not create the style independent of other influences. The commonality of the two disciplines and the potential synergy between them was the basis of "Tomorrowland's" theme.

[–] Innsmouth 9 years ago

Scientists engage in huge amounts of "imagining" of things that are as yet unknown, unseen, and untestable. You might have missed all that.

A lot of that involves the same creative mechanism that artists use.

Not really. They may at times work on long-shot hypothesis, especially when dealing with space, but there's still a framework of possibility that governs their thinking. They're not gonna research a magical flying dog that helps an isolated young boy discover a fantasy world where various fairy like beings are battling for the existence against a demonic nothingness. All of that is utter nonsense in the science world, serves no purpose.

In the artistic world, it resulted in one of the most nostalgic, powerful, and endearing films ever made. What is nonsense in one world is treasure in the other, that's why there is a big difference.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] Catman_Scrothers 9 years ago

Both are dreamers, or else how do you explain NASA?

[–] maxima128 9 years ago

Artists open up doors to the unseen. That which can not be tested or proven or predicted by anything in this world. Artists are not burdened by the common perception of "reality." Artists go where scientists can never dream of following. It's a big difference.

Not sure what your point is. You're saying the movie is wrong because scientists and artists are opposites? Did it ever occur to you that opposites might complement each other and could actually achieve more than they would separately?

[–] ksauve2 9 years ago

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

-Albert Einstein

[–] Line-of-Flight 9 years ago

So because Einstein said it, it's true or something?

[–] branden-findeisen 8 years ago

I think anything Einstein said carries more weight than someone commenting on an internet message board for movies.

[–] Keelai 9 years ago

Scientists and artists are similar. For example, scientists dreamed of finding a way to get men to walk on the moon when it was considered unrealistic. That takes imagination and positivity - the ability to dream and think outside the box. There are scientists working on things like invisibility cloaks, warping time, getting objects to move with one's mind, creating immortality, and cloning dinosaurs, etc.

Not true that artists don't deal with reality. There are artists who design buildings, ads, your computer, this website, furniture, clothes, book covers, logos, fonts, everyday objects like utensils, TVs, etc.

[–] thejim223 9 years ago

You apparently have never heard of that other Leonardo. Da Vinci may have been unique. But, I'm sure if one searched they could find other examples of great minds that move far beyond your narrow views of art and science.