Week 1: Two Cultures

This week’s reading focused on C.P. Snow’s The Two Cultures and Scientific Revolution, in which Snow defines two different types of people based on his own real-world observations—scientists and literary intellectuals/artists (Snow, 1961).  His work goes into detail describing how these two groups have no interdependence and have trouble interacting with members of the opposing group, as he recalls specific interactions with individuals of the two groups, even citing some of these individuals’ specific names.  Victoria Vesna’s article comes from a perspective of research and review of Snow’s writing, providing background and summarizing some of Snow’s key points.  She states that “the curricula of schools and universities are the source of this problem” and that “the first reported use of the (term) scientist…was proposed as an analogy to the term artist” (Vesna, 2001).

  

I do see strong evidence of the two cultures here at UCLA, particularly with the split between North and South campus.  Especially as an engineer, I rarely walk through North campus; and even when I do, it is for engineering classes so I don’t interact with humanities students.  While I am required to take 5 GE’s, this is minimal in comparison to the dozens of engineering classes that I take and even in these GE’s I often end up sitting with “STEM” major students.  I know that the university is trying to move towards more interconnectedness between all students with the addition of the diversity requirement, but there will still be evidence of a chasm between the two groups (Hampton, 2015).

 Engineering, by discipline, can be a very artistic process in terms of originality and design; however, I see myself as more of an analyst than a designer, so I certainly add to this two cultures problem (Bohm, 1968).  Snow’s work has altered my perspective about connecting with and utilizing connections with students studying the humanities, since their creativity and artistic talent can assist me as an engineering student.  I have seen the evidence of aesthetic design being successful in technology, especially when it comes to companies such as Apple; and remembering to utilize artistic creativity as an engineer can certainly aid me in becoming a more balanced and overall improved engineer (Yoffie and Kim, 2011).

  

References:

Bohm, D. “On Creativity.” Leonardo, vol. 1, no. 2, Apr. 1968, pp. 137–149., doi:10.2307/1571951.

Bostick, Dani. “Baron Batch: From Professional Football Player to Passionate Artist.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 July 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/dani-bostick/baron-batch-from-professi_b_7776594.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

Hampton, Phil. “Faculty Approve Undergraduate Diversity Requirement.” University of California, 13 Apr. 2015, www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/faculty-approve-undergraduate-diversity-requirement. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

“iPhone.” Apple, 2017, www.apple.com/iphone/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

“Scientists and Science Technicians.” The Science Council, 2017, sciencecouncil.org/scientists-science-technicians/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1961.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–125., doi:10.1162/002409401750184672.

Yoffie, David B., and Renee Kim. “Apple Inc. in 2010.” Harvard Business School, 21 Mar. 2011.