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Week 1 Blog
In The Two Cultures, C.P. Snow focused his discussion on the split in society's culture. He claimed that the two distinct cultures were the sciences and the humanities. On the scientific spectrum, Snow defines this as one that is "not only in an intellectual [culture] but also in an anthropological sense" (Snow 10). In contrast, the humanity culture is "impoverish" and "vainer;" "they like to pretend the traditional culture is the whole of 'culture,' as though natural order didn't exist" (Snow 15). Snow continues by saying that their ignorance makes them "tone–deaf" and causes them to miss out on the beauties of life. Snow blames the educational system for this divide in culture, which is something extremely relatable in today's society.
At UCLA, and probably at most educational institutions, the campus itself is split into two distinct sectors—North campus and South campus. If you drew a horizontal line through this map you could easily see the split of the campus. This divide is solely due educational differences amongst both respective areas. Being a political science major, I likely fall under the North campus and am a part of the tone–deaf community Snow references to in The Two Cultures. However, despite the fact that there is a distinct separation within UCLA's campus, Victoria Vesna introduces a third culture that can potentially conjoin the two cultures.
Victoria Vesna, Kevin Kelly, and John Brockman all touch on this idea of a "third culture." In each of their pieces, they all believe that there is an apparent opportunity to unite the two cultures C.P. Snow discusses, in order to eliminate the division within society. Specifically in Kevin Kelly's article, this could be possible through the use of technology. Cleary, over the past few decades, the advancements in technology have allowed people of our society to interact with one another in ways unimaginable years prior. Because of this, technology has allowed us to communicate and therefore also educate ourselves through the use of such technology. Stephen Wilson's article states that the cohesion between science and technology specifically can be used to "continue modernist practice," use "art as research," and as a "critical practice" (Wilson "Myths and Confusions..."). In this way, the use of technology would essentially "close the communications gap between the literary intellectuals and the scientists" (Graham–Rowe "Matchmaking with science..."). Hopefully in years to come, we will see an emergence in this third culture and potentially rid the previous two cultures system.
Graham–Rowe, Duncan. "John Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art." Wired Co. Web. 2003.
Snow, C.P. "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Pdf.
In The Two Cultures, C.P. Snow focused his discussion on the split in society's culture. He claimed that the two distinct cultures were the sciences and the humanities. On the scientific spectrum, Snow defines this as one that is "not only in an intellectual [culture] but also in an anthropological sense" (Snow 10). In contrast, the humanity culture is "impoverish" and "vainer;" "they like to pretend the traditional culture is the whole of 'culture,' as though natural order didn't exist" (Snow 15). Snow continues by saying that their ignorance makes them "tone–deaf" and causes them to miss out on the beauties of life. Snow blames the educational system for this divide in culture, which is something extremely relatable in today's society.
Works Cited
Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." American Association for the Advancement of Science. Web. 1998.
Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being in between." Leonardo: The MIT Press, 2001. Pdf.
Wilson, Stephen. "Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology." College Art Association Meetings, NYC. Web. 2000.
Graham–Rowe, Duncan. "John Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art." Wired Co. Web. 2003.
Snow, C.P. "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Pdf.
You do a great job of explaining about how technology is used in everyday life. Plus, you do a very good job of explaining the campus and its very different campus amongst others.
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