Week 1: Two Cultures

Snow's "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" informs us of the growing divide between literary intellectuals and scientific intellectuals. Nowhere is this divide more evident than at UCLA. North Campus houses humanities, social science, and art majors, while South Campus houses STEM majors. North Campus and South Campus are not only separated culturally, but also physically. Classes belonging to each side of the divide usually do not cross the border between North and South Campus, so literary intellectual and scientific intellectuals have few opportunities to interact with each other academically. When people from North Campus and South Campus do interact, it is usually in a social setting such as in the dorm or at an event, where academic discussion occurs much less frequently. This lack of interaction leads to misunderstanding, and conversation in one group regarding the other deteriorates to the use of stereotypes since they do not have sufficient experience with the other side. 

North Campus

South Campus

Eason provides a prime example of stereotypes used to describe the two cultures where "A South campus major decries his friend the political science major as 'lazy, lucky and showered' and a North campus major feels that her friend the physical science major is 'self-entitled, bitter and smelly.'"

 I would regard myself as on the scientific side of the spectrum, since scientific culture governs my thinking and my major is Computer Science and Engineering.  For recreation I express myself through dance and sketch. 

Problems in society require interdisciplinary approaches that necessitate the cooperation of people from a multitude of backgrounds. This lack of understanding between the two cultures holds us back as a society. This barrier must be brought down to bring about a better intellectual environment.

Although this divide still exists, people from the two cultures work together quite frequently. Film is one of the largest fields where art and science come together to create something amazing.

Caltech's Kip Thorne worked on Christopher Nolan's Interstellar to create "somewhat" scientifically accurate depictions of black holes. The equations developed for the graphical modeling of black holes generated stunning visual effects and could also help NASA interpret real astronomical data.

UCLA animators and mathematicians developed the material point method technology used to simulate realistic behavior of snow in Disney's Frozen.


Works Cited

Anna. "UCLA Math Behind Disney's Latest Animation Film." UCLA Department of Math News. 03 December 2013. Web. 04 April 2015.
<https://www.math.ucla.edu/news/ucla-disney-animators-explain-snow-dynamics-latest-animation-film>

Aron, Jacob. "Interstellar's True Black Hole Too Confusing" NewScientist. 13 February 2015. Web. 04 April 2015.

Court of Sciences. Digital Image. UCLA Events. n.d. Web. 04 April 2015.
<http://uclaevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/UCLA-Venue-Court-of-Sciences21.jpg>

Eason, Ryan. "Why North And South Campus Majors Need To Shut Up." The Odyssey. April 2014. Web. 04 April 2015.
<http://theodysseyonline.com/ucla/why-north-ca/39840>

Sculpture Garden. Digital Image. UCLA Housing. n.d. Web. 04 April 2015. <http://www.housing.ucla.edu/housing_site/guesthouse/gallery/SculptureGarden_RGB.jpg>

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.