Our Ability To Perceive The World Around

People Think Of Art And Science As Being Fundamentally Opposed To Each Other, Because Art Is About Celebrating Individual Human Creativity, And Science Is About Discovering General Principles, Not About Individual People. But In Fact, The Two Have A Lot In Common, And The Creative Spirit Is Similar In Both.

There Is No Real Independent Self, Aloof From Other Human Beings, Inspecting The World, Inspecting Other People. You Are, In Fact, Connected Not Just Via Facebook And Internet, You're Actually Quite Literally Connected By Your Neurons.

One Of The First Things We Teach Medical Students Is To Listen To The Patient By Taking A Careful Medical History. Ninety Percent Of The Time, You Can Arrive At An Uncannily Accurate Diagnosis By Paying Close Attention, Using Physical Examination And Sophisticated Lab Test To Confirm Your Hunch (and To Increase The Bill To The Insurance Company).

Great Art Allows You To Transcend Your Mortal Frame And To Reach For The Stars. I Think Great Science Does The Same Thing.

Think About What Artists, Novelists And Poets Have In Common: The Ability To Engage In Metaphorical Thinking, Linking Seemingly Unrelated Ideas, Such As, 'it Is The East, And Juliet Is The Sun.'