Week 1: Two Cultures

Hi, I am Christian Chavez and I am a second year sociology major. I play soccer for the school and I am really into music and I am going to relate this topic with the two cultures bringing in the third culture. In Two Cultures by C.P. Snow, he identifies two cultures which are literary intellectuals and natural scientists that are split into two worlds(humanities and the sciences). I encounter this separation on a daily basis just with the fact that UCLA is already separated with a north campus(social-science side) and south campus(science side).

I used to be a psych major before transferring into the sociology major and psychology  consists of a social science which is intertwined with social(humanities) and sciences because the need to know of the brain and its scientific works, and the works of social interaction. This brings up the conversation of the Third Culture by Victoria Vensa she brings up that there is a unity that "the work of an artist utilizing technology are uniquely positioned in the middle of the scientific and literary/philosophical communities". Kevin Kelly also explains that the third culture is a pop culture based in technology. I am a believer in this third culture because I like to make music which is an art and I use the computer to help me put this art together, therefore, the combination of the literary side of the poetry that goes into the making process of the song intertwines with the scientific side of the usage of the computer technology to master sounds. That goes for music or design art in general that uses technology to create some sort of art including both cultures.

This separation has been a huge topic on the rich and the poor, the scientist and the artist, and Snow explains how the poor who needn't be poor if there is intelligence in the world and for the responsibility of the country to look at our education system with fresh eyes. Also shown in the video, Changing Education Paradigms, where it talks about creativity and being able to express that through arts and sciences without being told or seen as not intelligent. In David Bohm's, On Creativity, he explains how musicians, the architect, the scientist, etc., all have a need to discover and create something new with their own interests bringing in the third culture. For example, this class shows us the history of art through the basis of two cultures which is arts and sciences coming together to improve our education. I can use the third culture of bring in arts and science(technology) to better my experience in creating and expressing art and my ideas that I feel will be useful to me and those around me.

Sources:

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 199

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.

TheRSAorg. "RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. YouTube, 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.