The Art of Science

People like to think that the Arts and Sciences are like 2 polar opposites. I prefer to think the 2 of them as 2 sides of the same coin. They are in reality the one and same. What do people really mean when they refer to something as "The Art of..", "The Science of.."? Maybe they meant that when something is an art, that something involves a great deal of creativity. And when something is a science, then that something involves the precise application of the scientific method. If that is true, then the implied meaning is that creativity is messy with no rules nor bounds, while the scientific method is precise, rigid, with well-defined bounds.

However, this is not the real way in which we do an art or a science. More often than not, for an art, we learn a certain set of rules, or methods, then we progress an improvise from there. Similarly for a science, scientists more often than not, do not even use the scientific method at all. Sometimes, their answers arrive in a stroke of inspiration.

You know, I see many people who try to do physics or chemistry or maths, and they are trying to find the answer to certain particular problem. Then they try to rigidly use a certain set of rules, or method taught to them. But sometimes, you can solve a certain problem by a easier route, or that the answer lies in a certain insight about the problem. In such cases, its much better to apply creativity and messiness to solve the problem at hand. One does not so much concentrate on the problem, than relax one's mind towards the answer. The divine stroke of inspiration that comes when one closes the eyes and just let the problem float around, the elements in the problem mixing and recombining in new ways..then the AHA! factor comes in. To say that scientists rigidly apply the scientific method is wrong..they usually work by messier routes.

The models and methods used in science in many cases are highly elegant, from a certain perpective, no different from beautiful music or dances, the beat of a different drum. We should say that science can be an art too.