Week 1: Two Cultures

CP Snow introduced the idea that "the intellectual life of the whole of the western society" was split into two cultures, humanities and sciences. Here at UCLA, we can clearly see the division between the two cultures on our campus. The north campus is generally considered as the "arts and humanities" part of the campus and the south campus is, on contrast, considered the "sciences" part of the campus where most students majoring in sciences and engineering took their classes.

UCLA Humanities Building

In a later edition of The Two Cultures, however, CP Snow came up with a third culture which includes the scientists and other intellectuals who attempt to bridge the gap between arts and sciences. As a computer science major student, I encounter the interaction of the two cultures everyday. A lot of classes that I took not only required me to understand computer science concepts, but also required me to have a deep understanding of subjects like philosophy and linguistics. For instance, the artificial intelligence class I took involves both philosophical logics and computer algorithms. Another computer science class I took, Programming Languages, incorporates theories from both Linguistics and Computer Science. Lots of theories from humanities subjects have became building blocks of Computer Science theories.

AI relies heavily on philosophical logics

The third culture is increasingly playing a more and more important role in the modern world. It creates opportunities such as new things to explain and new ways of expression. We must be well-prepared to adopt the rising third culture and seize the opportunities. 

A portrait of CP Snow

References

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

Johnson, Phillip. "Engaging the Thrid Culture." N.p.: n.p., 1996. Print.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." New York, Science, 1998. Print.

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

Snow, C.P. "The Two Cultures: And a Second Look." N.p.: n.p., 1963. Print.