h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No, you were saying science has no tangible benefits Arnie - something I find quite staggering. I hope I've just misunderstood your post.

I am well aware that many may feel there is a parallel that can be drawn between science funding and arts funding. I might agree that there may be a cosmetic similarity, but science research has intrinsic value in and of itself where it is difficult to quantify the benefits of arts funding per se.

I'd agree that benefits of arts funding aren't quantifiable but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Of course they aren't primarily economic so I wouldn't expect any of the main parties to pay more than lip service to promoting the arts at present.

Since when did topic drift become a yikesing offence on Hootoo?

"We were saying that science has no tangible benefits either,..."

"No, you were saying science has no tangible benefits Arnie"

Where does the "No" fit in?

"We" implies a concensus. The concensus you were (I thought) referring to was that science has no tangible benefits. I dispute that either a concensus exists or that the statement itself has any validity.

That is where the "No" fits in.

To clarify the obfuscations:

a) Arnie, do you assert that science has no tangible benefits?
b) Does anyone agree with that point of view?

Taking a leaf out of SoRB's book, here is a post removed because it was "off-topic". Let's see which bit was considered thread drift too far.

Oh and wasn't Hitler an artist?

Incidentally, I once met a make-up artist* who fled Germany in 1935. In order to purchase art materials or exhibit in Germany, artists *had* to join the Nazi Party. Her father refused to do so and was "disappeared".

* You will rarely see Doris Day with bare arms in her films as she had huge dark freckles on her arms and had to use masses of pan stick to cover them. She used so much bleach that she was virtually bald and for films they actually wove wool into what remained of her hair

<>

For these questions, it's not so important that there is a benefit, it's whether the extra benefit is worth the extra cost. Generally, benefits will start off being relatively big, and then decline. At some point, the costs will overtake any benefit.

Finding where this point lies is the fun part, of course.

So lets recap.

Art and artistshave always needed funding since the projects got more ambitious thatn painting some animals on a wall or dancing round a fire and beating a drum with a badger carcass on your head.

In the past it wealth dynastys or other defacto heads f state like the high preisthood had the largest funds and commisioned works or patronised artists.

After the renaissance art could be commercial as people had access to materials at a still expensive but much cheaper price than previously.

Over the following centuries art became more populist and more commercial in the sense that it was done as a way by a proffesional band of people who had trained specifically to work as entertainers, composers, painters, sculptors etc...

While all this was going on amatuers who did things in a way more sophisticated way but essentially were performing the same function as people dancing round the fire beating a drum with a badger carcass on their heads.

Now art is avaialable in many different flavours, but not all flavours suit all pallettes.

We still need to dance around the fire and be partof art its what makes us human. We need to have art injected into our lives the same way we need social services to try to put people back on the right tracks. Some people for various reasons in this increasingly bewildering commericially dominated world lose sight of their humanity and need to be given a badger carcass taught how to light a fire and encouraged to dance round it.



As an aside its worth mentioning that the Nazis were very good at manipulating images. Its not just rocket science that was taken on from them after WWII. THey had a love hate relationship with art. They loved it when it was working or them and hated it might be seen as undermining their carefully cultivated message.

Remember Picassos "Guernica" was covered up when Colin Powell announced the invasion of Iraq.

My final word on this is that money cant be wasted. even art we dont like causes thought, makes us look inside and bring forth our ideas. SWL has criticised art and its funding and shown his inner ideas perhaps if art he doesnt like hadnt been funded he would be a very different person today.


I need to write to my MP.....

one love

Is this art?

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It should challenge, provoke thought and bring fresh insights to an established idea.

oops