Blog 1: Two Cultures

     Two Cultures, One World. While these two cultures may be polarizing forces that produce a sort of tension in our society, much like all the great conflicting forces of the universe, an equilibrium point can be found between the two. This constant struggle to bring this balance to our lives, or “bridging the gap between the two cultures,” is a fight I’ve been on for as long as I can remember, and the readings “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution” and the “Third Culture: Being in Between” really resonated with the spirit of that effort.

     As a student attending UCLA, I have been exposed to the “North Campus vs South Campus” dispute, and have often times found myself caught in it as well. Much as described by C.P. Snow, proponents of the humanitarian studies in North Campus associate those in the STEM fields of South Campus as “shallowly optimistic” and “unaware of man’s condition.” In the opposing perspective, the mathematicians and scientists of our community have often looked down upon our peers up north, seeing them as “lacking in foresight” and “peculiarly unconcerned with their brother men.”

A self explanatory picture...

     I myself am currently a mechanical engineering undergraduate student here at UCLA, who is aspiring to be a machine designer as a profession. Along with my education, I come with a technical trade skill background as a metalworker, woodworker, and mechanic of around 8 years. Although I have devoted myself to the applied sciences, I have never seen my work or field as part of this cold, emotionless machine that others tend to associate with it. In actuality, I have always seen my mentors and inspirations in my field as artisans, and even as great artists who see life and great emotions in their work.

A machinist at work on a lathe, considered both a technical specialists and also an artisan of metal working.

     While I was interning for Autodesk, a design software company, I was in a working environment that surrounded me with people from all sorts of background, ranging from artists, engineers, chefs, performers, scientists, writers and so on. When these individuals come together to collaborate and learn from each other, “something magical happens”. Contrary to John Brockman’s beliefs, these people formed the “Third Culture” that Snow has mentioned, and this bridging of the two worlds has formed unprecedented yet beautiful work.

3D printed reactive garment co-developed by fashion designers and engineers at Autodesk

     I perceive the sciences as the objective understanding of worldly phenomenon, while the non-sciences are the subjective human interpretation of these phenomenon. In order to continue developing for this world inhabited by humans, one cannot exist without the other. I currently see our generation on the cusp of a new industrial revolution, but one unlike ever seen before where the Third Culture will rise and take the lead, with me right in the middle of it.

References

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

Print.

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

-Brockman, John. The Third Culture. N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print.

-Autodeks Pier 9: Creative Workshop for Design & Fabrication: http://www.autodesk.com/pier-9#home

-https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-north-ca