Week 1 Two Cultures

Contrary to John Brockman's refutation of  the existence of C.P Snow's "Third Culture", an alternative culture defined as the manifestation of the integration of science and the arts through open communication between scientists and artists, I believe that in our modern day society there exist many examples of scientist and artist collaboration. In fact, as we enter the digital age and as advances in technology continue to occur, I more often see examples of an oncoming breakdown between the man-made division of the disciplines of science and art. Thus, looking toward the future, it is reasonable to predict that in order to keep up with the changing direction of research, innovation, and business that favors the possession of an intellectually diversified background, there exists a need for reformation in educational institutions, solutions brought up by both Snow and Professor Vesna. The geographical divide of the arts-centered, North Campus and the science-based, South Campus  physically represents the figurative division of the different studies in traditional intellectual thought. Coming to college I initially had a very difficult time picking a major, another tool used by academics to divide the disciplines, because I could not consciously pick either a scientific or art based study without feeling as if I was missing out on obtaining a well- diversified intellectual background. To compensate, I decided on the "North Campus major" Economics, while staying rooted in the physical sciences by taking pre- med courses.

(UCLA campus divide: to the right (not pictured) South Campus, to the left (not pictured) North Campus)

(Poker, one of the many and far-ranging applications of Game Theory)

 By doing this, not only did I benefit from having both a humanities and science based curriculum, I also found through my biology classes and economics classes that the creative perspective needed to understand both majors was very similar, an observation also found in Professor Vesna's paper. For example, in Economics we learn about Game Theory, a theory that sets a scientific model to human behavior in order to predict outcomes. Although I learned

about Game Theory in economics class, it surprisingly has manyother applications. For instance, it is also used in the studies of evolutionary biology, psychology, political science, philosophy, and even the game of poker!

 Similarly, coming from a family of journalists and reporters, an art that not only works with developments in the science, art, business, and athletics, but is also affected by the integration of the humanities and technology with the evolution of medium from print paper to television to online representation, I strongly understand
the connection and advancement that technology brings to bridging the gap between the "Two Cultures" of science and art.

(Older sister interviewing basketball player Blake Griffin at the start of her career as a reporter)

Sources

Brockman, John. The Third Culture. N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print.

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. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

Unknown. Photograph. <https://hepconf.physics.ucla.edu/radcor-loopfest/>

Unknown. Photograph.<http://communitytable.parade.com>