0:00:25.202,0:00:26.802 Hello, everybody. 0:00:26.802,0:00:29.032 Thank you for being here. 0:00:29.892,0:00:33.571 In childhood, I wrote dozens of poems, 0:00:33.811,0:00:36.282 and in my poetry, 0:00:36.282,0:00:40.972 I tried to express my feelings[br]about loneliness, 0:00:40.972,0:00:43.406 my questions about death, 0:00:43.406,0:00:46.646 my unrequited love[br]for 14-year-old girls. 0:00:46.646,0:00:47.966 (Laughter) 0:00:48.526,0:00:50.723 Reading, listening, even thinking, 0:00:50.723,0:00:55.680 I was mesmerized by the sounds[br]and the movements of words. 0:00:55.680,0:00:58.590 Words could be sudden, like "jolt," 0:00:58.590,0:01:02.380 or words could be slow, like "meandering," 0:01:02.380,0:01:05.893 words could be silvery,[br]prickly to the touch, 0:01:06.433,0:01:10.199 and by magic, words[br]could create scenes and emotions. 0:01:11.489,0:01:17.001 Between poems,[br]I did scientific experiments, 0:01:17.001,0:01:20.102 and these I conducted[br]in a little laboratory, 0:01:20.102,0:01:24.581 a homemade laboratory[br]that I built off my second-floor bedroom, 0:01:24.581,0:01:26.355 really, a large closet. 0:01:26.355,0:01:31.255 And there I hoarded resistors, capacitors, 0:01:31.255,0:01:33.885 wire of various lengths, 0:01:33.885,0:01:38.173 test tubes, beautiful pieces of glassware. 0:01:38.173,0:01:41.332 I loved my equipment;[br]I loved to build things. 0:01:41.332,0:01:42.785 By the age of 12, 0:01:42.785,0:01:45.892 I had built a remote-control device 0:01:46.062,0:01:50.650 that turned on the lights in any room[br]of the house from any other room. 0:01:51.270,0:01:54.682 When my scientific projects went awry, 0:01:55.562,0:02:00.118 I could find certain fulfillment[br]in mathematics. 0:02:00.668,0:02:01.665 In geometry, 0:02:01.665,0:02:07.744 I loved the inexorable relationships[br]between lines and angles. 0:02:07.744,0:02:10.703 And in algebra, I loved the abstraction - 0:02:10.703,0:02:13.163 I loved letting X's and Y's 0:02:13.163,0:02:17.107 stand for the number[br]of nickels and pennies in a jar 0:02:17.107,0:02:20.989 and then solving[br]a connected set of equations 0:02:20.989,0:02:23.619 one logical step after the other. 0:02:23.619,0:02:27.588 I loved that shining purity[br]of mathematics, 0:02:27.588,0:02:29.128 that precision. 0:02:29.138,0:02:32.792 I loved the certainty of mathematics. 0:02:32.792,0:02:33.793 In mathematics, 0:02:33.793,0:02:36.571 you were guaranteed an answer 0:02:36.831,0:02:41.671 as clean and as crisp[br]as a new 20-dollar bill, 0:02:41.671,0:02:43.189 and when you found that answer, 0:02:43.189,0:02:46.938 you knew that you were right,[br]unquestionably right - 0:02:47.432,0:02:51.489 the area of a circle[br]is pi r-squared, period. 0:02:53.739,0:02:56.397 Mathematics contrasted strongly 0:02:56.397,0:03:00.606 with the ambiguities[br]and the contradictions of people. 0:03:00.606,0:03:03.198 The world of people confused me; 0:03:03.198,0:03:06.832 the world of people[br]had no logic or certainty: 0:03:06.832,0:03:13.587 My Aunt Jean continued to drive recklessly[br]in her little MG sports car 0:03:13.587,0:03:15.263 even though everyone in the family 0:03:15.263,0:03:18.636 told her that she would kill herself[br]in that car one day. 0:03:19.146,0:03:24.494 We had a wonderful woman named Blanche,[br]who worked for our family for years. 0:03:24.904,0:03:29.138 Blanche had to leave her husband[br]after he abused her, 0:03:29.388,0:03:34.117 and then, for many years later,[br]spoke about him with affection. 0:03:34.117,0:03:37.794 So how does one reconcile[br]these different worlds, 0:03:37.794,0:03:40.638 these seeming contradictions? 0:03:41.598,0:03:44.857 Well, now having lived[br]in two communities, 0:03:44.857,0:03:47.961 the community of scientists[br]and the community of artists, 0:03:47.961,0:03:49.589 for many years - 0:03:49.599,0:03:53.032 I've worked both as a physicist[br]and as a novelist - 0:03:53.752,0:03:57.744 I have tentative answers[br]to some of these questions. 0:03:57.744,0:04:02.836 So I wanted to tell you this morning[br]a little bit about what I've learned 0:04:02.836,0:04:07.510 about the different ways that scientists[br]and artists approach the world - 0:04:07.510,0:04:13.499 their different versions of truth[br]and also some of the many similarities. 0:04:15.139,0:04:19.191 A big distinction that I have found[br]between physicists and novelists 0:04:19.191,0:04:23.452 or, I should say, more generally,[br]between scientists and artists 0:04:23.452,0:04:27.836 is in what I will call[br]"the naming of things." 0:04:27.836,0:04:29.428 Roughly speaking, 0:04:29.708,0:04:32.532 the scientist tries to name things 0:04:32.532,0:04:36.432 and the artist tries[br]to avoid naming things. 0:04:37.292,0:04:38.440 To name a thing, 0:04:38.690,0:04:41.050 you've gathered it, you've distilled it, 0:04:41.050,0:04:42.103 you've purified it, 0:04:42.103,0:04:43.780 you've put a box around the thing 0:04:43.780,0:04:45.950 and said what's in the box is the thing 0:04:45.950,0:04:48.956 and what's not in the box[br]is not the thing. 0:04:49.446,0:04:52.940 Consider, for example,[br]the word "electron," 0:04:52.940,0:04:56.002 which is a type of subatomic particle. 0:04:56.692,0:04:58.230 As far as we know, 0:04:58.470,0:05:02.069 all of the zillions of electrons[br]in the universe are identical; 0:05:02.069,0:05:04.798 there's only a single kind of electron. 0:05:05.088,0:05:07.098 And to a modern physicist, 0:05:07.098,0:05:11.281 the word electron[br]means a particular equation - 0:05:11.281,0:05:13.830 it's called the Dirac equation. 0:05:13.830,0:05:19.114 And that equation summarizes everything[br]that we know about electrons: 0:05:19.114,0:05:24.927 the precise energy of electrons in atoms[br]as they orbit the nucleus, 0:05:24.927,0:05:28.920 the deflections of electrons[br]in magnetic fields - 0:05:28.920,0:05:32.730 all of that can be predicted[br]to many decimal places 0:05:32.730,0:05:37.021 with great accuracy by the Dirac equation. 0:05:37.421,0:05:40.573 Every object in the physical universe 0:05:40.573,0:05:44.782 the scientist wants to be able to name[br]with this kind of precision. 0:05:45.592,0:05:48.928 For scientists,[br]it's a feeling of comfort, 0:05:50.178,0:05:52.368 a feeling of power, 0:05:52.368,0:05:54.408 and a sense of control 0:05:54.408,0:05:58.356 to be able to name things in this way. 0:05:59.946,0:06:06.599 The concepts that the artist[br]deals with cannot be named. 0:06:06.599,0:06:11.248 The novelist might use a word[br]like "love" or like "fear," 0:06:11.248,0:06:14.801 but those words don't really convey[br]that much to the reader. 0:06:15.051,0:06:19.188 For one thing, there are[br]a thousand different kinds of love: 0:06:19.668,0:06:21.668 there's the love[br]that you feel for a mother 0:06:21.668,0:06:24.800 who writes you every day[br]your first summer away from home 0:06:24.800,0:06:26.614 at summer camp; 0:06:26.614,0:06:31.091 there is the love that you feel for a man[br]or a woman that you've just made love to; 0:06:31.481,0:06:34.505 there's the love[br]that you feel for a friend 0:06:34.505,0:06:38.461 who calls you right[br]after you've split up from your spouse; 0:06:38.461,0:06:40.835 and on and on. 0:06:41.675,0:06:44.303 But it's not just[br]the many different kinds of love 0:06:44.303,0:06:48.566 that prevent the novelist[br]from truly naming the thing, 0:06:48.566,0:06:52.934 it's that the particular situation 0:06:52.934,0:06:56.434 that creates the particular ache of love. 0:06:56.434,0:07:00.611 That particular situation[br]must be shown to the reader - 0:07:00.611,0:07:05.431 not named but shown[br]through the actions of characters. 0:07:05.676,0:07:08.959 And if love is shown rather than named, 0:07:08.959,0:07:13.640 then each reader will experience it[br]in her own individual way, 0:07:13.640,0:07:19.175 each reader will draw on her own[br]adventures and misadventures with love. 0:07:19.495,0:07:24.985 Every electron is identical,[br]but every love is different. 0:07:25.745,0:07:30.208 The novelist doesn't want to try[br]to eliminate these differences, 0:07:30.208,0:07:33.040 doesn't want to try to distill[br]the meaning of love 0:07:33.040,0:07:37.216 so that there is only a single meaning,[br]as in the Dirac equation, 0:07:37.216,0:07:41.003 because such a distillation is impossible 0:07:41.003,0:07:44.517 and even an attempt at such a distillation 0:07:44.517,0:07:51.316 would destroy that magical, delicate,[br]participatory creative act 0:07:51.316,0:07:55.226 that happens when a good reader[br]reads a good book. 0:07:55.226,0:08:00.756 In a sense a novel is not completed[br]until it is read by a reader 0:08:01.206,0:08:05.148 and every reader completes the novel[br]in a different way. 0:08:06.488,0:08:12.558 Well, there's another phenomena[br]that's closely related to naming, 0:08:12.558,0:08:17.908 and that is framing problems[br]in terms of questions with answers. 0:08:18.988,0:08:24.376 We scientists work by breaking the world[br]down into smaller and smaller pieces 0:08:24.376,0:08:30.409 until we have what we call[br]well-posed problems 0:08:30.829,0:08:33.886 that have clear and definite answers. 0:08:34.146,0:08:38.126 It might take five years, it might take[br]a hundred years to find the answer, 0:08:38.126,0:08:40.362 but at any given moment of time, 0:08:40.362,0:08:43.154 each scientist is working on something 0:08:43.154,0:08:46.348 that he or she feels[br]has a definite answer; 0:08:46.348,0:08:50.399 for example, one such question might be: 0:08:50.689,0:08:54.103 Where in a living organism[br]are the instructions stored 0:08:54.103,0:08:56.085 to create a new organism? 0:08:56.085,0:08:58.775 This is a well-posed problem[br]with a definite answer; 0:08:58.775,0:09:02.707 it was answered in the 1800s and 1900s. 0:09:04.367,0:09:08.572 But artists often don't care[br]what the answer is 0:09:08.572,0:09:14.476 because often answers - definite answers -[br]don't exist in the arts; 0:09:15.256,0:09:18.216 the arts are complicated 0:09:18.216,0:09:23.627 by the intrinsic ambiguities[br]and self-contradictions of people. 0:09:24.047,0:09:25.286 This is one of the reasons 0:09:25.286,0:09:30.188 why the characters in a good novel[br]can be debated endlessly, 0:09:30.188,0:09:35.922 why God held the apple in front of Eve[br]and then forbade her to eat it. 0:09:36.592,0:09:37.588 In the arts, 0:09:37.588,0:09:41.969 there are many, many interesting questions[br]that don't have answers, 0:09:41.969,0:09:48.286 such as "Does God exist?"[br]or "What is the nature of love?" 0:09:48.286,0:09:51.499 or "Would we be happier[br]if we live to be a thousand years old?" - 0:09:51.499,0:09:55.030 and I'm grouping the arts[br]and the humanities together here. 0:09:55.670,0:09:58.462 These are very interesting questions; 0:09:58.462,0:10:01.355 they provoke us,[br]they stimulate our imagination, 0:10:01.355,0:10:03.761 but they don't have clear[br]and definite answers 0:10:03.761,0:10:05.939 or maybe no answers at all. 0:10:06.559,0:10:09.987 As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, 0:10:10.577,0:10:16.456 "We should learn to love[br]the questions themselves 0:10:16.456,0:10:21.949 like locked rooms and like books[br]written in a very foreign tongue." 0:10:22.299,0:10:28.679 And I have finally come to believe[br]that we need both kinds of questions: 0:10:28.679,0:10:33.874 we need questions with answers[br]and we need questions without answers - 0:10:33.874,0:10:37.951 that both kinds of questions[br]are part of being human. 0:10:38.681,0:10:41.205 Well, I've been speaking[br]about some of the differences 0:10:41.205,0:10:43.100 between the sciences and the arts - 0:10:43.100,0:10:47.256 let me say a little bit[br]about some of the similarities. 0:10:48.496,0:10:49.499 The folklore 0:10:49.499,0:10:55.132 is that artists make up everything[br]and scientists don't make up anything. 0:10:55.732,0:10:58.471 Well, both views are false. 0:10:59.051,0:11:03.769 The imagination has always been important[br]in a great scientist. 0:11:03.949,0:11:08.509 And Albert Einstein[br]had a phrase that he used - 0:11:08.509,0:11:12.460 he called it "the free invention[br]of the mind" in the sciences, 0:11:12.460,0:11:15.668 and by that, the great scientist meant 0:11:15.668,0:11:19.208 that we cannot discover[br]all of the truths of nature 0:11:19.208,0:11:21.845 simply by observation and experiment, 0:11:21.845,0:11:25.339 that sometimes we have[br]to start with mental constructions 0:11:25.339,0:11:28.250 and then only later test those[br]against experiment. 0:11:28.250,0:11:32.398 And one of the greatest examples[br]of Einstein's "free invention of the mind" 0:11:32.398,0:11:36.348 was his work on time,[br]called "the theory of special relativity." 0:11:36.348,0:11:40.963 And in that work, Einstein[br]begins with the stunning postulate 0:11:40.963,0:11:44.348 that a light ray passes us[br]at the same speed 0:11:44.348,0:11:46.764 whether we're running[br]towards the light ray 0:11:46.764,0:11:48.066 or away from it - 0:11:48.066,0:11:52.342 it makes no sense based[br]on our day-to-day experience, 0:11:52.342,0:11:54.395 it violates common sense, 0:11:54.395,0:11:58.930 and yet Einstein realized[br]that our common sense could be in error 0:11:58.930,0:12:02.752 when it comes to the very[br]high speeds of a light ray, 0:12:02.752,0:12:06.234 and he made this leap of the imagination. 0:12:07.234,0:12:12.370 But scientists can't make up everything[br]even when they're developing new theories; 0:12:12.370,0:12:15.552 I mean, you can't put forth[br]a new law of gravity 0:12:15.552,0:12:18.772 that says apples fall up instead of down - 0:12:19.022,0:12:23.139 there's still a large body[br]of known experimental evidence 0:12:23.139,0:12:25.274 that we have to accord with. 0:12:25.274,0:12:27.660 And I would argue that in the same way, 0:12:27.660,0:12:33.393 there's a body of experimental evidence[br]that the artist must accord with - 0:12:34.043,0:12:40.307 it is the large catalog of known behavior[br]in psychology of human beings 0:12:40.307,0:12:41.699 called human nature, 0:12:41.699,0:12:47.815 and those are the facts[br]that the artist must accord with. 0:12:47.815,0:12:51.249 And let me give you an example[br]of what I'm talking about there. 0:12:52.119,0:12:55.385 Suppose a novelist[br]has created a character: 0:12:55.385,0:12:59.884 a man about 40 years old,[br]married with two children, 0:12:59.884,0:13:02.388 who's just attended a Christmas party. 0:13:04.168,0:13:09.191 Just for the sake of referring to him,[br]let's call this fellow Gabriel. 0:13:09.691,0:13:12.269 Well, we learn at[br]the beginning of the story 0:13:12.269,0:13:14.927 that Gabriel is not too sure of himself - 0:13:15.247,0:13:18.404 he worried when he first got[br]into the Christmas party, 0:13:18.404,0:13:21.908 he worried that he had insulted[br]the housekeeper's daughter, 0:13:21.908,0:13:23.500 and a little bit later, 0:13:23.500,0:13:27.967 he's worrying that his after-dinner speech[br]is going to be condescending. 0:13:28.547,0:13:31.125 Well, anyway, the party ends. 0:13:31.785,0:13:36.754 Gabriel and his wife Greta have left[br]their two children with a babysitter; 0:13:36.764,0:13:40.038 they've decided to spend the night[br]at a nearby hotel. 0:13:40.228,0:13:43.260 Greta's been very quiet[br]during the evening. 0:13:43.260,0:13:45.106 So they walk out of the house, 0:13:45.106,0:13:47.439 and they begin walking on a path 0:13:47.439,0:13:49.891 towards their hotel[br]in this little village. 0:13:50.121,0:13:53.627 It's well after midnight now;[br]it's beginning to snow. 0:13:54.467,0:13:58.490 Gabriel looks over at his wife[br]and admires her 0:13:58.490,0:14:03.877 and hopes that she still feels[br]in love with him 0:14:03.877,0:14:07.712 even though she's had the drudgery[br]of house work and children. 0:14:08.252,0:14:10.068 So they reach their hotel, 0:14:10.068,0:14:14.320 and they walk up[br]this narrow curving stairway 0:14:14.320,0:14:16.958 that's lit only by candlelight, 0:14:17.478,0:14:19.479 and they enter their room, 0:14:20.109,0:14:24.832 and by this time, Gabriel is feeling[br]a lot of desire for his wife, Greta. 0:14:26.042,0:14:29.728 And instead, she turns away from him[br]and she begins weeping. 0:14:30.323,0:14:32.643 And he asks her, "Why are you crying?" 0:14:32.913,0:14:36.625 And she says that there was a sad song[br]sung at the Christmas party 0:14:36.625,0:14:38.593 that reminded her of a boy 0:14:38.593,0:14:41.274 that she used to know[br]long ago in her youth, 0:14:41.274,0:14:44.042 a boy with large brown eyes. 0:14:44.712,0:14:46.973 They used to go walking together. 0:14:47.503,0:14:50.553 Gabriel feels a dread in his stomach, 0:14:50.553,0:14:54.471 and he asks his wife,[br]"Were you in love with this boy?" 0:14:54.771,0:14:58.301 And she says, "Yes,[br]we were great together at the time." 0:14:59.201,0:15:03.936 And then Greta says, "He died at age 17." 0:15:04.876,0:15:08.322 "What did he die of[br]so young?" asks Gabriel. 0:15:09.662,0:15:13.001 "I think he died for me," says Greta, 0:15:13.321,0:15:17.979 and she begins sobbing all over again[br]and throws herself to the bed. 0:15:18.889,0:15:21.941 Well, this scene that I've just described,[br]as some of you know, 0:15:21.941,0:15:26.920 is the last scene of James Joyce's[br]famous story The Dead, 0:15:26.920,0:15:30.168 and the question is:[br]How will Joyce end the scene? 0:15:30.638,0:15:34.561 What will be Gabriel's reaction[br]to his wife's confession? 0:15:34.561,0:15:37.222 Suppose that he shows no reaction - 0:15:37.222,0:15:41.566 would we as readers with our[br]life experience believe that reaction? 0:15:41.926,0:15:44.726 No, it would ring false. 0:15:45.256,0:15:52.124 Or suppose Gabriel feels superior[br]to this boy of the distant past, 0:15:52.124,0:15:55.571 this long dead boy,[br]and dismisses his wife's pain - 0:15:55.571,0:15:57.870 would we believe that reaction? 0:15:57.870,0:16:00.031 No, we wouldn't believe that either, 0:16:00.031,0:16:04.877 because we know that Gabriel[br]is too insecure a character for that. 0:16:05.477,0:16:08.975 The ending that Joyce[br]actually writes is this: 0:16:10.375,0:16:15.941 Gabriel realizes that his wife[br]has always loved this long dead boy 0:16:15.941,0:16:20.042 more than she's ever[br]loved him, her husband, 0:16:20.322,0:16:23.513 and he also realizes[br]that he's never loved any woman 0:16:23.513,0:16:28.577 with the passion that she has just[br]demonstrated for this boy. 0:16:29.557,0:16:33.219 And all he can do after these realizations 0:16:33.869,0:16:36.931 is sag against the windowpane, 0:16:36.931,0:16:40.357 listening to the breathing[br]of his wife as she sleeps, 0:16:40.357,0:16:45.929 watching her as if he and she[br]had never been man and wife. 0:16:46.519,0:16:51.655 We believe this ending;[br]we know that it's true even in fiction 0:16:51.655,0:16:54.987 because it accords[br]with our life experiences, 0:16:54.987,0:17:01.068 with our understanding of human nature,[br]and it causes us anguish. 0:17:02.748,0:17:07.561 Both the scientist and the artist[br]are seeking truth. 0:17:08.311,0:17:09.430 In seeking truth, 0:17:09.430,0:17:12.679 both the scientist[br]and the artist must invent. 0:17:12.679,0:17:15.594 Both kinds of invention are important. 0:17:15.594,0:17:20.401 Both kinds of invention must be tested[br]against experiment. 0:17:20.401,0:17:25.499 The tests of the scientist's invention[br]are more definitive; 0:17:25.499,0:17:27.987 no matter how beautiful[br]a scientific theory is, 0:17:27.987,0:17:32.383 it has a terrible vulnerability -[br]it can be proven false. 0:17:32.783,0:17:39.304 A writer's characters or story[br]cannot be proven definitively wrong, 0:17:39.634,0:17:45.194 but they can ring false[br]and thus lose their power with the reader, 0:17:45.194,0:17:49.623 and in this way, the novelist[br]is constantly testing his fiction 0:17:49.623,0:17:53.744 against the accumulated[br]life experiences of his readers. 0:17:57.784,0:18:01.209 The scientists and the artists[br]that I have known 0:18:01.209,0:18:04.800 have at least one more thing in common: 0:18:05.460,0:18:07.561 they do what they do because they love it 0:18:07.561,0:18:11.310 and because they cannot imagine[br]doing anything else - 0:18:11.770,0:18:13.413 this is a compulsion. 0:18:13.413,0:18:16.706 This compulsion is[br]both a blessing and a burden. 0:18:16.706,0:18:17.744 It's a blessing 0:18:17.744,0:18:20.663 because the creative life[br]is a beautiful life 0:18:20.663,0:18:22.871 and it's not given to all of us, 0:18:23.161,0:18:26.204 and it's a burden[br]because when the call comes, 0:18:26.204,0:18:30.772 it can be unrelenting[br]and it can drown out the rest of life. 0:18:31.382,0:18:33.823 This mixed blessing and burden 0:18:33.823,0:18:37.840 must be the sweet hell[br]that Walt Whitman referred to 0:18:38.130,0:18:42.503 when he realized at a young age[br]that he was destined to be a poet - 0:18:42.503,0:18:46.012 "Never more shall I escape,"[br]wrote Whitman. 0:18:46.462,0:18:48.981 This mixed blessing and burden 0:18:48.981,0:18:53.782 must be why a visitor[br]to the young Einstein's apartment in Bern 0:18:53.782,0:18:58.983 found the physicists rocking[br]the cradle of his son with one hand 0:18:58.983,0:19:02.364 and doing mathematical[br]calculations with the other. 0:19:02.364,0:19:03.927 Thank you. 0:19:03.927,0:19:05.272 (Applause)[br]