Two Cultures

Pattriana Perry

Unit 1: Two Cultures

The concepts of art and science are commonly known for being different. We are taught that the left side of our brain and the right side deals with "science" and "art" respectively. In today's society, the distinctions between the two fields are still very much there. I attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where the campus is split into two "factions"- North and South. The North campus is known for its creativity and its artistic intuition, where the majority of the humanities classes (i.e. arts, history, language) are taught. The South campus, on the other hand, is known for its scientific minds. A common notion is that the harder, more rigorous classes and majors, such as pre-med, math and chemistry are products of the South campus. Even though some may find science and art to be mutually exclusive, I think they actually work together in a symbiotic fashion. For example, the left and right side of the brain work together to power the whole brain. Therefore, science is art and art is science, they go hand in hand and one often inspires the other. In the article, "The Third Culture", Kevin Kelley proclaims "science has always been a bit outside society's inner circle." He then says scientists are known as nerds while musicians, poet, and artists are known for being cool. Unfortunately, I used to think like that in the past.  However,  after realizing how much science and arts intertwine- how scientists are the ones who created instruments, utensils, radios, and tools for the artists, I've learned to appreciate and love what scientists do on a daily.

example of Bohm's implicate order

David Bohm explains how scientists are no different from artists, musicians, composers. They all are trying to create. I never looked at it from that perspective but now the notion makes sense to me. It allows me to look at my sport in a different light too. I am a track and field athlete at UCLA, and I am also trying to create: whether it is creating a better form, or generating a faster time. In Bohm's video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c1qvkOube4 he talks about the implicate order. This stood out to me because I could relate to it on a personal level. I am a hurdler, and that is my event. When he talks about how the order of things can be chaotic, it also applies to my sport. He describes a ball rolling down the hill, and how the ball SHOULD roll down and WHERE the ball would land; that is if nothing hits the ball, or the wind doesn't affect it. This reminds me of how I hurdle and run, my coach says if you run fast your time will drop. However, he does not take into account the minute things that can affect my running. For example, a strong headwind pushing against me, or hitting a hurdle could affect my performance drastically. I am going to share this information with my coach so he can understand running from a new perspective as well.

References 

Bohm, David. "On creativity." Leonardo (1968): 137-149.

Bohm, David. "The Implicate Order." Online Video Clip.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c1qvkOube4

Cornwall, T. Bettina. "State of art and science in sponsorship-linked marketing." Journal of Advertising 37.3 (2008): 41-55.

Kelly, Kevin. "The third culture." Science 279.5353 (1998): 992-993.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a third culture: being in between." Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-125.