I have a friend who is an artist and he sometimes takes a view which I dont agree with. He`l hold up a flower and say,"Look how beautiful it is." and I`ll agree. But then he`ll say,"I, as an artist, can see how beautiful a flower is. But you, as a scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull." I think he is a kind of nutty.
First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people-and to me, too, I believe. Although I might not be quiet as refined aesthetically as he is, I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. But at the same time, I see much more in the flower than he sees. I can imagine the cells inside, which also have a beauty. There is beauty just at the dimesion of one centimeter; there is also beauty in the smaller dimensions.
There are other complicated actions of the cells, and other processes. The fact that colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means insects can see the colors. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life?
There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I dont understand how it substracts.
What do YOU care what other people think? Richard Feynman
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