Week 1: Two Cultures
Being a mechanical engineer major, I understand the concept of the "Two Cultures" very well as, according to Victoria Vesna, “[C.P.] Snow identified the two cultures as those of literary intellectuals and natural scientists." The idea of there being two cultures is very evident in my everyday life as I am on the “natural scientist” part of the spectrum. However, I do believe the third culture has been improving.
One example of how clear the division of the two cultures is how UCLA is divided into north and south campus, which segregates the fields in which students study. North campus is associated with liberal arts while south campus is associated with sciences. From this, one can make the connection to how UCLA's campus division of liberal arts and sciences reflect Snow's classification. Furthermore, when talking about being a part of a project, John Brockman stated the artist he collaborated with, “will run projects such as ‘Maps for the 21st Century’ and commission 50 artists to produce pieces, and lean on me to do the same with the science crowd.” Even though Brockman collaborates with the lead artist, his message indirectly illustrates the separation of the two cultures. This can be seen through the lack of communication between all the 50 artists and 50 scientists who never all collaborate amongst each other.
Although the separation is still clear in society, I personally find that Snow’s prediction of a “third culture” (that would bridge the gap between the two fields), is continuously developing. I consider myself a part of this “third culture” as my academic plans include going to law school after I finish my undergraduate career. In this way, the fields that I study would be on the opposite sides of Snow’s definition of the “Two Cultures” and I hope to understand the language of both poles.
Sources:
Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.
Brockman, John. The Third Culture. N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print.
Mitrofanova, Anastasia. “The Kharkiv Times.” The Kharkiv Times, 28 Feb. 2016, thekharkivtimes.com/2016/02/17/unusual-school-of-science-art-is-opening-soon/.
Tritipeskul, Sirinya. "And the Winner of the North vs. South Campus Challenge Is....ALL Bruins!" UCLA Fund. UCLA Fund, 22 May 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://www.theuclafund.ucla.edu/news/nvschallengewinner.aspx>.
Katz, Daniel Martin. “Law and Engineering Should Share Curriculum.” Computational Legal Studies™, 1 May 2016, computationallegalstudies.com/tag/polytechnic-legal-education/.
Hi Sameer! I can completely understand your statement about being able to relate to the science spectrum more than the opposite side of the two poles. As a South Campus major as well, the division between the sciences and the humanities is clearly evident through UCLA's college layout, but as well as the stereotypes associated with each of the spectrum. With this is said, I do agree with the fact that there is often a lack of communication between scientists and artists, as many do not see the bridge between the two. The emergence of this third culture will hopefully bridge this gap and initiate more communication between the two groups.
ReplyDeleteHey Sameer. I had similar thoughts regarding the division between South and North campus major. I'm a north campus major myself, and I hear about these stereotypes you listed, especially on social media. There is definitely a divide at UCLA, and even though UCLA tries to make students take diversity classes, I don't think it's enough. I think it's cool that you are going to law, a discipline that takes a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking, but still is based on theory to some extent. I can definitely see you being immersed in the third culture.
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