PHILOSOPHY

Science and art are both creative processes. Science* is the experiment teasing out repeatable behavior out of objective reality through updating what we believe as a hypothesis. This is not too far removed from art. Art* happens when we tease intriguing ideas out of our subjective experiences, through improvisation upon what we experience.

But why stop at those two? We believe that all modes of knowledge creation can be used comprehensively to generate answers. At META we practice several means to create knowledge as necessary:

scientific: experiments, theory, simulation, mathematics
artistic: objects, expressions, experiences, performance
human: communication, ethics, policy, communities

Vision

to bring together individuals and ideas at the intersection of materials, expression, technology, and art.
to produce scholars who approach problems with the freedom to choose any competence necessary
to create scholarship that meaningfully integrates the arts, sciences, and humanities.
to positively impact people and communities near and far through scholarship, objects, and communication.

Values

Examination: the openness to knowing more, intellectual humility, cultivation of a negative capability, correlation with reality
Improvisation: always update the hypothesis when presented with new information, seek the unusual to its logical next step
Humanism: to exist in the context of humanity, think of the people near and far, dignify others as equal, be comprehensible
Complexity: seek nuance and analytical rigor, thoroughness in scholarship

*some