Week 1: Two Cultures

              I have always thought of myself as a science person and thinking of myself as an artist seems ridiculous.  In fact, recently one of my artist aunt’s friends asked if I was an artist like her; I laughed and quickly responded with a no.

Before the start of this week, the idea of “two cultures” was so innate to me that I didn’t think of it as an idea, but rather I saw it as a truth.

            The concept of the two cultures (the artists and the scientists) is expressed here on the UCLA campus.  Professor Vesna mentions how geographically we have a campus with the arts on the northern end and the sciences in the south, with both explicitly labeled.  Students even refer to themselves as “North Campus” or “South Campus.”  The two are thought to be so separate that when my physiology class was held in the art building, it was a major topic of conversation of both the students and professors.  This further illustrates C.P. Snow’s view of the divide between the scientists and the literary intellectuals. 

https://www.localresearch.com/listings/court-of-sciences-student-center/

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/060926news_broadcenter

            I find the idea of the third culture and the intersection of art and science particularly interesting.  Previously, I bought into the stereotypes that these two things had nothing in common and were polar opposites.  Kevin Kelly’s idea that the “third culture” of technology must involve the blending of science and the arts introduced me to the concept that these two disciplines can in fact be intertwined.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/25/e-o-wilson-on-art/

            I now have a different perspective on the two cultures.  When I think back to when I thought I was purely a science person, I failed to acknowledge that I have an interest in graphic design and know artists who love to hear about science.  Perhaps it is crucial for science and art to blend.  After all, Watson and Crick may not have discovered the structure of DNA if it wasn’t for Crick’s wife, an artist, being able to draw the double helix. 

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6921/fig_tab/nature01403_F2.html

Citations 

"Academy EBriefings." A Dangerous Divide. Web. 6 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nyas.org/Publications/Ebriefings/Detail.aspx?cid=74e271bd-4ba6-47cd-8f0a-add2ef8234cd>.

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." Leonardo 1.2 (1968): Pp. 137-149. Print.

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. "John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art." Wired 3 Feb. 2011. Print.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. 13 Feb. 1998. Web. 6 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/279/5353/992.full>.

Snow, C. P. "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." (1959): 54. Print.