Week 1 I Two Cultures

The division of the arts and sciences has been a part of my educational experience for as long as I can remember.  As discussed in the Changing Educational Paradigms video, the subjects I study have been stratified since elementary school and the separation is even more apparent here at UCLA where the humanities and the sciences are so split up that they are taught in different regions of campus.

An illustration of division of subjects in our education system.

Because of how ingrained this idea has been throughout my life, I have pushed myself to focus more on my scientific goals as a Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics major and allow my previous passion for music to slowly dwindle into a hobby.  Never did I imagine that a bridge between the two cultures could exist; I thought that intellectuals like C.P. Snow who participated in both the humanities and science were a rare occurrence and were meant to experience those spheres separately as he describes he did early in his lecture. 

Based on my previous attitudes, you can imagine my surprise when learning about the third culture as discussed by Dr. Vesna in "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between".  The idea of a middleman that bridges the worlds of art, science, and technology not only fascinated me, but convinced me that the interaction between these seemingly disparate groups is an important next step for intellectualism.  I believe that the collaboration between scientists and artists will lead to new ideas and result in a unique type of progress that neither could produce on their own.

Fluorescent bacteria used to create art on a petri dish.

Of course, this development will take time as it will require the scientists to become more literate in the works of the artists and vice versa, but I feel optimistic that we as a society are headed in that direction.

Citations:

Ben-Jacob, Eschel. Bacteria as Art. 2013. Photograph. n.d. Web 05Apr. 2015 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/bacteria-art_n_3567046.html>

Popova, Maria. Dreamers and Storytellers. 2012. Photograph. n.d. Web 05 Apr. 2015. <http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/25/e-o-wilson-on-art/>

"RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.
Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.  New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.