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Vesna’s “Third Culture: Being in Between” and C.P. Snow’s “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution” elaborate upon the idea that two different intellectual groups exists: the literary and physical sciences.

Snow acknowledges that these two distinct cultures do not always allow for easy categorizing, as he himself spend time in the day with scientists and moments at night with literary intellectuals. Vesna informs us that these two groups -- science and art -- are fundamentally not meant to be separated. They instead are inspirations of each other, and augment developments.

Bunche Hall

I was very much caught off guard by Vesna’s illumination of the architecture on campus, and how it reflects what is being taught there. I am an economics major. My classes are a combination of North and South campus, as they consist of math-heavy focused classes but are housed in North campus, in buildings such as Dodd and Bunche. Due to this, there is a bit of contention as to how to categorize the Economics major.

Symbol of Freakonomics

In the beginning, I always advocated for it to be a South campus leaning field of study. South campus majors tend to garner more respect as their majors are seen as more difficult, but ultimately more rewarding post college. North campus majors are on the other end of that spectrum, and have the stereotype of the “artist” or “wanderer,” with less hard wrought direction post graduation.

I’m beginning to think that that’s not the case -- and that difficulty is much more subjective that I have previously believed. I think I should strive to capitalize on the union of North campus and South campus instead of restrict myself to the bubble of math and numbers. It’s the intersection that is more valuable, and as Bohm points out, the difference of an innovator is in his inclination to be original in the face of standardness.

Scene from Good Will Hunting

For now, I am excited to learn more about how to bridge the gaps between educational differences, the rich and poor, and the science and arts. As Wilson points out in his article, “Myths and Confusion in thinking about Arts/Science/Technology” it is extremely harmful to attack a concept without even trying to understand it. It is the marriage of two separate entities that is enriching, and to John Brockman, most alluring.  

Sources: 

Bohm, D. “On Creativity.” Leonardo 1.2 (1968): 137. Print.

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “John Brockman: Matchmaking with Science and Art.” Wired. United Kingdom, 2011. Print.

Snow, C.P. “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Cambridge UP. New York, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Print.

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

Unknown. Healthy Tipping Point. 2012. Web. http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ApplesOranges-300x300_thumb.jpg?7a7d0e

Unknown. Philosophy Now. Web. https://www.lightworkersworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/great-scene-from-good-will-hunting.jpg

Unknown. UCLA Las GSA. 2012. Web. https://uclalasgsa.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/bunche-hall.jpeg