Jonah Lehrer’s main point is that “science needs the arts.” Overall, I feel like after having read this article it shifted my view point a little bit. Before reading “The Future of Science…Is Art?” I felt strongly that art should be included in todays STEM focused world and I felt that everyone would positively benefit from a switch from STEM to STEAM. But I felt that Lehrer’s essay focused so much on how art was everything and talking up the arts, that it almost seemed like he was talking down on science. I felt he was extremely undermining all of the accomplishments and scientific and technological advances we have made throughout history and implying that science is limited because it does not include art. Something about the way he was trying to imply that science could not advance without art made me feel like it could, and made me change my view point to that perhaps art and science should remain separate. 

1. Reductionism – the practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of phenomena that are held to represent a simpler or more fundamental level, especially when this is said to provide a sufficient explanation.
2. Synapse – a junction between two nerve cells, consisting of a minute gap across which impulses pass by diffusion of a neurotransmitter.
3. Epiphenomenon – a secondary effect or byproduct that arises from but does not causally influence a process.