Art and technology: a merger of disciplines

The successful alliance of art and technology is hardly a novel concept; it has been practiced for centuries, from antiquity, through the Renaissance, to the present day. Historically, the collaborative efforts of artists, artisans, engineers, and builders have been predicated upon the exacting criteria of the respective trades and professions: the integrity of achievement that demands order, logic, and reason in planning and execution, plus the responsible freedom of expression that is regulated by self-discipline-rather than by license-for the betterment of society and the progress of civilization and culture. Much recent copy has been devoted in our literature to some far-out and anarchic present-day trends in the collaboration of artists and engineers, with the apologia that it is ``something that is really going on.'' But one might logically observe that robbery, rape, and mayhem are also things that are really going on!