#1. Art being valued more than science

"After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well." - Albert Einstein  

This Grolsch billboard makes me angry. At my most charitable I could see how this could evoke a romantic image of an old artisan tenderly crafting a product.  I am sure this was what the advertisers were trying to convey, but not only is it misleading, it is insulting to the people who make the product as it is implying that the old craftsman is better at making his product than a food technologist.

Art and Science used to be part of the same adventure - that is, to better understand the universe.  Artists were considered scientists and vice- versa.  At some point they diverged and Artistry dissappeared up its own arts hole. Good Art was science and good science was an art.  Di Vinci was an artist and a scientist.  They used to be one-in-the-same but that changed during the scientific renaissance when the scientific method was adopted.  

Now new art is seen as having merit if it is "challenging".  Well I've got news for artists who want to be "challanging"; ever since Jackson Pollock, once the art world has accepted that paint splattered on a canvas can be art, it is not a challege to accept that a shark in fomelderhide is art.  There is very little coming out of the art world that really is challenging.  Sure, art is a great form of expession, but since its diversion from science, art's contribution to society is dwarfed by science's - and it should be treated as such.

The good news is that you can punish the visionless companies that buy the crap that spills forth from the advertising agencies.  Make every dollar you spend count.  Grolsch is actually quite a nice beer.  When I see it on special, I am tempted to buy it.  But then I remember the billboard they funded that celebrated art over science and I buy something else. It's time to boycott the products that celebrate this falsehood.  Don't buy the beer that denys the scientific processes it uses.