“The world is much more interesting than any one discipline.”
— Edward Tufte
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NPR’s Science Friday talks with data scientist Edward Tufte on everything from Steve Jobs’ considerations of cognitive load to Picasso’s art.
Tufte also offered some insights into human nature.
If you’re told what to look for, you can’t see anything else. …
I think there’s a lot of premature labeling. Now, the situation in teaching is different. You’re trying to point out where people should see. But analytical seeing, I believe you should try to stay in the sheer optical experience as long as possible.
Once you have an idea, or somebody tells you something to look for, that’s about all you can see. I had this experience recently: A dear friend of ours has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and I hadn’t seen her for about six months. And when she came and visited, I couldn’t see her anymore. I was always looking now for symptoms, how the dementia was manifesting itself. And I know about how words control scenes. I couldn’t see her through any other lens but the possible symptoms. And that one word, that one piece of knowledge, and I was self-aware of it, totally corrupted every time I looked at her.
| Still curious? Tufte’s Envisioning Information, written in 1990, still remains a must-read. Learn more about Tufte’s Feynman diagrams. |