Week One | Two Cultures

UCLA Space Management System

C.P. Snow pointed out in his Lecture at Cambridge University that the intellectual life, a large part of the practical life, of western society was separated to two parts: science and humanities. He believed that the clear differentiation in education between science and humanities to a large extent hampered the development of the world. Although his lecture took place almost sixty years ago, the phenomenon he described still exists today. For instance, at UCLA, the campus is separated geographically into north and south by the separation of humanities and science subjects.                                                

I used to think that there were only two classifications of subjects: science and liberal arts, and even used this kind of classification to judge others. However, when I gradually make more contact with the world, I find that science and humanities are actually mixed together in reality. But at the same time, man-made mixture of science and humanities are not easy to achieve. As described by Wilson, artists can approach science in various ways, such as creating new kinds of media, finding meanings ignored by technological life, or becoming researchers themselves. Despite this, Vesna pointed out that one needed to fully understand science before applying it to humanities and vise versa. Brockman also expressed his opinion that artists should act as sensors for society and deliver correct information about science to the public.

Math and the Mona Lisa

As a south-campus student, I was surprisingly defined as a person who should study liberal arts when I was little. I started to take professional sketching class when I was nine, so when I went deep into science later on, the connection among structure, logics and geometry became appealing to me as a kind of aesthetics. Although I choose to major in math now, I still want to make connections between science and humanities. For example, there are countless ties between mathematics and philosophy, and many concepts in math can be expressed in arts exquisitely. On the other hand, like arts, doing math also needs creativity. This kind of creativity can not be achieved by any "right" techniques or methods, but needs inspiration, as explained by Bohm. I am looking forward to pursue my career in an interdisciplinary environment and arouse public attention to the "two cultures".

Scientific Concepts Reflected by Arts

Works Cited:

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." Leonardo, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Apr., 1968), pp. 137-149. Print.

Bottomley, Wayne. Campus Zones Map-July 2005. 2005, JPG file, http://space.admin.ucla.edu/space_plsql/pkg_library.obj_details?p_file_id=4002&p_return_url=pkg_library.search. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Brockman, John. “John Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art.” Interviewed by Duncan Graham-Rowe, 3 Feb. 2011, http://www.wired.co.uk/article/matchmaking-with-science-and-art. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Dwyer, C. Abstract Art and Science. JPG file, https://www.scribd.com/document/85553217/Abstract-Art-and-Science. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Paukner, Michael. Math and the Mona Lisa. 2010, JPG file, https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpaukner/4260592085/. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo, Vol. 34, No. 2. (2001), pp. 121-125. Print.

Wilson, Stephen D. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.” College Art Association Meetings, NYC, 2000. Print.