NORTHERN PLANNER

I heard something interesting on the radio that really caught my imagination. It was about an artist trying to do some work based on the beauty of not knowing everything. I didn’t catch it all, but it reminded about why I like doing what I do, and where I want to go with it.

The conversation centred around science taking us to the very edge of knowledge – the bit where humans have to just accept that nature’s has too much unfathomable grandeur for us to comprehend.

Our physicists can explain what happened to our universe as far back as start of everything, The Big Bang. But when they go further to to that infinitely dense, impossibly small piece of nothing more than space-time (we think), that preceded it they get stuck.

Just like we think that black holes may spew out somewhere else – but we don’t know where and we can’t prove it.

Or the way we’re not sure if we’ll ever go much further understanding how the brain works, since it may well operate through quantum mechanics – something we can’t really get our heads around.

But they keep trying.

I love the way some scientists are forever curious and never stop believing they can go a bit further, push the boundary a little bit more. it reminds me whay I like doing what I do. Even though it’s pretty insignificant next to the stuff scientists get up to.

You see there’s always something new to learn, a new idea to stumble over. Culture always changes, things move on, you can never, ever know it all.

There’s no excuse in our trade for sitting back and going, "That’s it, we’ve cracked it". That’s why I have an instinctive fear of brand models and such.

It makes me wonder where my end is, when will I reach the point I can’t go any further in my work? With any luck it won’t stop at being fairly competent. Only one way to find out I suppose……..and that’s what I want to do. Push right out to the edges and find what’s there. Where will I be?