Week 6: Biotech and Art

        The first week of discussion focuses on the themes of two cultures and the third culture. The two cultures represent the separation of ideology between literal intellectuals and scientists. C.P Snow has first raised out this issue. He noted in his paper that he believed the intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups. In his paper, he argued on how he thought the society should not categories science and humanities into two distinct groups, and scientists and literal intellectuals should not have extreme prejudice about the other. There are certain similarities that connect the two groups and their structure of thinking is not absolutely incorporable.

                                     

From my personal experience, I agree very much to his argument. In UCLA specifically, there is indeed a distinction between science and humanities fields, denoted by the famous phrases: “south campus” that residents science majors, “north campus” that encompasses humanities majors. Interestingly, there is even a stylistic difference between the appearance of the two parts of the campus. The south campus is often being made fun of for being ugly and rigid, while the north campus is more stylish and artful. 

                                     http://www.bruinsnation.com/

                         

                                                  http://www.collegemagazine.com/

However, I think the distinction is only on the surface. Indeed, there are so many interdisciplinary fields that connect science and humanities. For example, in computer science, linguistic is a very important subject to study. It is based on the study of linguistic that computer scientists develop speech recognition, artificial intelligence etc. that mark the bounds in the technology field. Also, it is improper to categories a subject as pure science or humanities. For example, geography is mostly being recognized as a humanities subject in lower educations that studies the society and the nature. However, in universities, geography suits in science subject as it utilizes plenty of mathematical models in its study.

From this week’s study, I believe it is a prejudice to separate science and humanities as two polar. It is important for us to integrate both way of thinking to develop as a holistic person. 

Citation:

1.     "Center for Science and Technology Policy Research." Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

2.     Dizikes, Peter. "Our Two Cultures." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2009. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

3.     "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

4.     Krauss, Lawrence M. "An Update on C. P. Snow's "Two Cultures"." Scientific American. N.p., 06 Aug. 2009. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

5.     "Science and Government." Science and Government — C. P. Snow | Harvard University Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.