Week 1 : Two Cultures

Week 1: Two Cultures

If one judged me from what I am studying and the career I have chosen, I would be purely in the science culture defined by CP Snow. I am studying computer science and engineering at UCLA School of Engineering, and it is true that I have very little experience to art not because I hate artists but because of the workload of studying scientific theories which scientists have done with their life time in ten weeks of a quarter system.

At UCLA campus, it is obvious to see the differences between the North and the South campuses as two cultures mentioned by CP Snow. For example, my engineering professor gives lecture wearing jeans and T-shirt while my business class professor comes to class everyday with formal suit and tie. However, if one looks further into the issue, there are several cultures depending on the majors such as business, art, science and engineering. As Sir Ken Robinson has mentioned in Changing Education Paradigms, schools have transformed more and more like corporate structures and students are trained to fit in industry specializations (Remember 'Divide and Conquer Strategy'). Inevitably, enormous progresses and new discoveries are emerging in the world. One simply cannot study all the fields, and multiple cultures are likely to arise even more in the future.

RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms

As Einstein said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid". I personally believe that scientists and artists are the same in the way that both are extremely passionate people who would immerse their entire lives in their fields of interest. Unfortunately, the different cultures cannot be met by force because this would fall into the category of the ‘Mechanical’ instead of the creative as described by David Bohm’s paper ‘On Creativity’. Whether these cultures meet or not will depend on the direction of where their passions go such as Tim's Vermeer.

References:

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." Leonardo 1.2 (1968): 137. Print.

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

Mrnewtrailers1. "Tim's Vermeer HD Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Dec. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

Quoteinvestigator.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 8 Apr. 2017 . http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/04/06/fish-climb

RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms, theRSAorg - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

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

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