Astronauts work in a vacuum. Most artists don’t. We are always surrounded and influenced by the media and feedback from our peers. Of course, it is possible to exist as a hermit, pursuing a singular creative journey that springs purely from within. But even then, is such creativity truly without influence? Surely, the hermit in the woods is influenced by the very woods in which he finds himself. Anyway, the point is moot—most of us are fully entrenched in society and so we are constantly bombarded by the creative output of others.