Do you think that art is important in this world?
Do you think that artists have a responsiblity?
My answer to all three of those questions would be yes.
I was talking the other day to someone who said that we're all doomed IN THIRTY YEAR!!! unless technology can safe us. Ignoring the faults of his analysis that lead to this conclusion I interjected that the problems we are having today are not merely technological, but also human, and to work on those we need more than scientists, we need artists. He did not not agree.
What I see in the world is an endlessly repeating cycle of fear. But, art has power to move a whole people into a new direction. Ask yourself if you think these are words have changed the course of history or not. Nothing else, just the words, through time. Think about all the people who read them, took them in, held on to them, and acted on them, believed in them, or used them for their own purposes.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I think the metaphorical pen is going to play a crucial role for the future of us all. You need to inspire people, to touch then, to make them think and make them reflect. That is what art does, from my point of view. If that doesn't happen no technology will save us from the next fall and dark age, and that saving the world is basically the responsibility of the artist

No pressure
