Week 1: Two Cultures

Art and science are prevalent cultural facets in current society.

(https://randydeutsch.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/aaaaa.jpg)

As an Environmental Science major and a Spanish minor, the idea of two cultures is something that I am particularly familiar with; my two departments aren’t even in relative proximity to one another on campus. However, I have experienced this divide for quite some time throughout both my education and through my personal life. In high school, I always considered myself “an English/history person,” rather than “a math/science person.” Many of my peers classified themselves in one way or the other. At UCLA, this division continues through the difference in classification between North Campus and South Campus. Both geographically and socially, we are separated by our areas of study. This divide is accepted, and even encouraged, by students and the university alike.

The divide between North and South Campus seems a friendly intra-school rivalry, but rather suggests a deeper support of the cultural division between the sciences and the arts.

(http://www.theuclafund.ucla.edu/news/nvschallengewinner.aspx)

So how did I become a South Campus major, when I had always excelled in North Campus subjects? As C.P. Snow stated, “By training I was a scientist: by vocation I was a writer.” I immediately identified with his statement: I am passionate about both what I want to do as an occupation and also about what I enjoy doing in my free time. I am not a scientist, nor am I an artist; rather, I am a combination of both. 

Consider what David Bohm writes: “Thus, he wishes to find in the reality in which he lives a certain oneness and totality, or wholeness, constituting a kind of harmony that is felt to be beautiful.” Looking at this statement with a culturally influenced perception, we would immediately assume that his words describe the mindset of an artist; however, these words describe the mindset of a scientist. 

Through this class, I hope to gain a better appreciation for the way in which science and art influence one another through their interconnectedness. I believe that as technology progresses, art and science are beginning to grown closer together. This is evident in the necessity for art in order to influence scientific design, and the dependence on science to drive new artistic movements. As society progresses through the influences of both fields, perhaps we will better understand the way in which not only our different studies, but also our different cultures, are connected.

We should focus more on “wonder” and the result of the blending of art and science in modern culture rather than the differences between these subjects. 

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-silva/at-ted-active-2011-scienc_b_832677.html)

References:

Bohm, David. “On Creativity.” Leonardo. April 1968: 137-149. Print.

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “John Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art.” Wired. March 2011. Web.

Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture.” Science. 13 February 1998: 992-993. Print.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Tritipeskul, Sirinya. News, North and South Campus. The UCLA Fund. 22 May 2013. Web. 3 April 2014. http://www.theuclafund.ucla.edu/news/nvschallengewinner.aspx.