Art is a function of its creator whereas inventions are creatures that are born of the environment.
If a particular artist died before she could produce her masterpiece, the world would never have that masterpiece. If a particular inventor died before he could invent something, somebody else would have.
Had Salvador Dali not painted The Persistence of Memory, or if Pink Floyd had not composed Comfortably Numb, it’s hard to imagine that other artists would have reproduced these masterpieces.
If Thomas Newcomen hadn’t invented his version of the steam engine, somebody else would have. By 1730, several inventors were working on similar prototypes. In the absence of Charles Darwin, another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace would have discovered natural selection. In the absence of Albert Einstein, Hendrik Lorzenz would have gotten to relativity in a few years. Without Watson and Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Ray Gosling would have figured out the structure of the DNA.
If you wish to be an artist, look deep within yourself. If you would like to innovate, on the other hand, pay careful attention to the world outside.
Observations 