Does science now provide our access to the sublime, or does art still have the power to make us feel awe?

This question is supposed to direct us to grand thoughts: the wonders and terrors of science versus visions of the sublime in poetry and visual culture. But that’s not how I see it. We need to tread carefully when we venture into lofty thoughts on the nature of science and the arts, all the more so if we decide to choose sides.

The grandeur of the terrain conceals rather tired debates involving more mundane matters: politics, money and sponsorship, as well as personal rivalries and resentments. Beyond binary conflict, not only does culture include science but, more significantly, science includes culture. To say this is to say very little, one might think, yet it remains deeply contentious, begetting endless battles.

The nature of the empirical research which gets done and the way it is broadcast and popularised, whether by scientists or their promoters, does not bring us to the true nature of things. It always reflects the assumptions and goals of the culture around it, or certain pockets of it. In the dazzling techno-world we now occupy, this should be more obvious than ever. The extraordinary degree of information available to us is presented carefully filtered of what might appear its less interesting aspects, via the addition of magnification, colour, sound, and more, to produce the most aesthetically attractive images. The most popular media presentations of science are themselves true works of art, delivered with as much metaphorical and poetic flourish as its interpreters can manage.