Making invisible patterns , visible

One way of taming information overload is data visualization. Here is a video from TED that illustrates this beautifully. It does make you "see" relationships that you did not before if you just read the news. Illustrates the concept of making the invisible visible beautifully. If you have trouble viewing the video, please click here. David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com

I have a hypothesis. All progress depends on making the the invisible visible. As humans it appears that we have to be able to "see" to be able to do something about it; So many people would easily support enivronmental conservation efforts if it was easy to "see" how dirty the air is in some places or "see" how forests are disappearing - with animated before and "now" views. People would not have to "imagine" so much. They would be able to "see" it. The same would be true of many "theories" that affect our lives or our future. Does cutting taxes spur growth ? This would not(should not) be a matter of ideology - but of science if there was a way it could be "shown" whether one was true or not. Communication would be so much more effective -- if we could "see" what the other person "sees". X-Rays and Catscans improved diagnosis and treatment. They made the "invisible" visible.