This
week’s agenda focuses on the “two cultures.” In Toward a Third Culture: Being in
between, the author Victoria Vesna defines the “two cultures” as a “divide
between the sciences and the literary humanities and frequently excludes what
was originally analogized to science—art.” (Vesna) The creative process of
artists and scientists is associated with the discovery of strangeness. It
means that to create is to reveal the unknown first. In “On Creativity,” Bohm
claims “to discover oneness and totality in nature, the scientist has to create
the new overall structures of ideas to express the harmony and beauty found in
nature.” (Bohm) So, it means that learning something new depends on a person’s
mentality. In “Matchmaking with science and art,” John Brockman coins the term “the
third culture”—” scientists are communicating directly with the general public
so they are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering
visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.” (Brockman)
Essentially, two polar groups are the literary intellectuals and the others who
do not look at the outside world. When it comes to art and sciences, technology
refers to the processes of trial and error, hunches, inspiration, discovery
through craft, play, and invention, plus careful theory-based experimentation
and respect for paradigms. The two cultures are evident at the UCLA campus on
the south and north campuses. However, most people perceive STEM vs. humanities
and have different interpretations of different campuses. These ideas of “the
two cultures” made me rethink the meaning of art. Art is beyond humanities and
science because of the nature of creativity. This lesson also allowed me to
think bigger.
Citations
Bohm,
David. “On Creativity.” Leonardo, 1.2 (1968): p.137-149
Kelly,
Kevin. “The Third Culture,” Edge.org, 27 Feb. 1998
Snow,
Charles Percy. The Two Cultures and The Scientific Revolution. Vol. 960.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959.
Vesna,
Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): p.
121-125
Wilson,
Stephen. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.”
College Art Association Meetings, 2000, New York City.



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