The Expert and the Non-Expert

Design vs. Science

While reading through the articles of the past week, saying how the engineer/designer, who in some readings were artists as well, is not limited by the need to have a definite answer like the scientist; I began to wonder why there is a divide between the two. They seem more similar in my mind than not. The scientist does not understand the free thinking of the designer and the designer does not understand being restricted to a single outcome. In my opinion this can all be seen as a divide between two groups of very different experts trying to explain ideas to one another.

This disconnect has always existed in society, however it is not just restricted to designers and scientists. C.P. Snow was the first to put the idea of a divide in society in his writing The Two Cultures. “Literary intellectuals at one pole- at the other scientists…between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension- sometimes hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding.” The gulf is a great divide between two cultures within society. Scientists seem to end up at the butt end of all of this, but that might just be because of what they stand for.

I wonder if the designer(non-engineer) is on one side and the Scientists on the other, while the architects and engineers are building the bridge to span the gap through science with hard answers melding together with the design. What do others think of spanning the gap between experts and non-experts? Should the society stay separate or are there chances for greater understanding and blending between the groups?

Kevin