Charles Mann

And then at some point the professor would say, oh, I see, I see, I see, I see what I got to do.

You know, in other words, he'd find the hole in his theory.

He kind of could feel the physics happening.

and see how it's gonna come out and then construct the pathway of how to get there.

But then he would say to the students, I'm really sorry, I wanna give you by example how to feel the physics, but I can't really teach you how to feel the physics.

I have a friend who's an artist and he's sometimes taken a view which I don't agree with very well.

He'll hold up a flower and say, look how beautiful it is.

And I'll agree.

And he says, you see, as I as an artist can see how beautiful this is, but you as a scientist, oh, take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing.

And I think that he's kind of nutty.

First of all,

The beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too.

I believe, although I may not be quite as refined as aesthetically as he is, that I can appreciate the beauty of the flower.

At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees.

I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty.

I mean, it's not just beauty at this dimension of one centimeter.

There's also beauty at a smaller dimensions.

the inner structure, also the processes, the fact that the colors and the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it.

The science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery, and the awe of a flower.

It only adds.