Week 1: Two Cultures

Hi! I am Fangjing Li. Many of my friends also call me Alice. I am a second year Statistics major who is very interested in history, psychology and arts appreciation (i.e. visiting museums). Being a Statistics major, I feel the interaction and collision of the two cultures everyday. Even though statistics is commonly considered as a study of science, it is an important tool that may be used by almost every other fields of study, and even in those degrees of arts, such as Linguistics. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/science-discovery/nicky-clayton/

A little bit about myself: I am originally from China, went to Singapore for high school before coming to here for college two years ago. I been exposed to Chinese, Singaporean and American cultures and all three cultures influence and shape my personality in their own ways. As a result, I can emphasize the separation and interaction of the arts and science cultures better from my personal experiences of adapting to different cultures. 

http://www.bestcities.net/Singapore.aspx

http://nghiencuuquocte.net/page/2/

The separation and interaction of arts and science is certainly an interesting topic for me. Two of the readings "The two cultures and the Scientific Revolution" and "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." brings about this interesting idea about the third culture, that is a mix between arts and science. Personally, I agree with C. P. Snow on his idea of two cultures that a new third culture will emerge that will close the gap between the arts and science. At UCLA, such interactions take place very often. For example, interdisciplinary courses and programs such as computer science and linguistic combined major (a a perfect combination of arts and science!) and behavioral economics (a combination of psychology, economics and statistics). Building wise, Powell Library looks artistic and old-fashioned from appearance but inside there are a few computer labs with the most updated computers and softwares installed. 

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-10-most-creative-graphing-calculator-drawings

As Stephen Wilson mentions, "Some artists seek to appropriate contemporary technologies to create new kinds of images, sounds, installations and performances." Artists has been trying to utilize technological advancement and scientific concepts in their artwork creation. On the other side of spectrum, scientists have also been trying to employ a different perspective of thinking. As elaborated by Bohm that scientists must approach problems with originality and creativity in order to be successful. In today's world, we have seen the gap between arts and sciences becoming smaller. 

https://researcherssociety.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/workshop-challenges-of-interdisciplinarity/

Before this week, I have never seriously considered the separation and interaction of arts and sciences. The concept of a third culture is certainly fascinating. This shows a new possible directions for us students. For example, I, a Statistics student, may gain inspiration from arts and apply this creativity to research or data analysis work in the future. Similarly, an Arts student may certainly apply technological tools and scientific knowledge to enhance their works. 

Sources:

Wilson, Stephen D. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.” College Art Association Meetings. New York, New York, 2000. Print

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.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998

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