Sunday, April 3, 2016

DESMA 9 Week 1



Week 1 Blog 

This week’s materials focused on C. P. Snow and his discussion of the separation of art and science.  In Snow’s lecture Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution the reader is told the importance of both science and the arts.  Snow makes a point of saying that a person should have extensive knowledge of these two subjects, not just one or the other.  There is a lack of understanding between these two worlds and it is often hard to find a middle ground.  In this lecture Snow talks about how he has asked scientists and writers about subjects that are in their opposite fields and how they dismiss the subject they are not an expert in as unimportant.  As a liberal arts major I understand the value literature and other forms of art.  Science on the other hand I have always had a hard time with.  I went through all the required high school science courses but never had a particular interest in nor intended to pursue them further than necessary.  Looking back after reading this article I realize now how I made a choice to prioritize literature and art over science.  Writers and artists are important to bettering society, but scientists and mathematicians are equally important.  In order for society to be whole we need a balance between both literary intellectuals and natural sciences.


We see art and science and their separation everyday at UCLA.  A great example of how they are thought to be independent of one another is how the UCLA campus is designed.  There is a north campus for liberal arts majors and a south campus for science majors.  North campus contains a sculpture garden identifying it as a place that is friendly to the arts.  South campus has an observatory that is one of many symbols for science.  Before reading the Snow lecture I never really thought about the significance of the way our campus was designed other than it made sense to put science with science and art with art.  Now I see that this separation has in a way harmed the student population.  This clear banishment of the sciences and the arts to separate sides of campus has only helped students disassociate these two subjects from one another.  Our campus's very blueprint tells students that science and art should not go together and subconsciously embeds that in our minds.  If we all learned to think of science and art as two things that could go together instead of two separate entities society as a whole would be much better off. 


Resources:

"An Update on C. P. Snow's "Two Cultures"" Scientific American. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-update-on-cp-snows-two-cultures/

"Art and Science: How to Reach Your Audience." Web. 04. Apr. 2016
https://petovera.com/art-and-science-how-to-reach-your-audience/

"Cartoon History of Cyberspace." Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://www.ylem.org/artists/mmosher/nelsonia.html

Silva, Jason. "At TED Active 2011 SCIENCE, ART = WONDER." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Web. 04 Apr. 2016. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-silva/at-ted-active-2011-scienc_b_832677.html

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "C.P. Snow." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica,  Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/C-P-Snow
























































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