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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