Two Cultures
In the articles for this week, the writers discuss a division between two cultures: Literary and Scientific groups of individuals. In Snow's piece titled Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, he remarks that the division of the two cultures is a problem because these two groups do not seem to interact but move parallel to one another without crossing paths (Snow, 2) Furthermore, Vesna tells us about how the collaboration between the two cultures is getting closer and closer as artists utilize technology and science and vice versa (Vesna, 2001).
In my immediate world on the UCLA campus, these two cultures are definitely very much defined. With the division between North and South campus, the division is further perpetuated between science and literacy. 
UCLA marketing the division between the two campus cultures
However, given my major and minor I feel as if I have experienced both of these cultures. I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in Educational Studies. Psychology is considered a social science and Educational Studies is more related to humanities (Teo, 2017). From psychology, I have experienced the science culture of my campus and with education, the humanities.
The perspective regarding the two cultures has changed my thinking about the separate cultures, not only on my campus but everywhere, by opening my eyes to how alike these subjects really are. When we really start to think of it, we can view scientists as creative individuals who seek to learn some new phenomenon that has not yet been discovered (Bohm, 1968). Further, in his work titled Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology, he describes art being influenced by technology.
We can see art being influenced by technology when we look at projected museums where pieces of art is projected onto blank walls of a museum
Bohm, D. "On Creativity." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.
Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Cambridge University Press, 1959.
Teo, T. (2017). From Psychological Science to the Psychological Humanities: Building a General Theory of Subjectivity. Review of General Psychology, 21(4), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000132
Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in between.” vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121-125. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1577014?seq=1. Accessed 1 April 2021.
Wilson, Stephen. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.” 2000.
Hi Justine,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week. I wrote something similarly and agree with your first point that Snow discusses a problem with the two cultures paralleling but not interacting with one another. As art and science progresses, the use of these two genres to work together rather than individually will only progress society. It is interesting that you get to experience a little bit of both genres at UCLA with your major and minor. Do you feel that the biases or rivalries against the other hold the campus back a lot? How do you deal with such strong biases against the other when you are emerged in both? I like how you gave the example of art now being expanded with using technology, which is a great way to see how the collaboration between these two genres can only help one another.