Week 1: Two Cultures
CP Snow’s concept of two cultures and his lamentation of the divide between them is quite relevant
to me as an aspiring writer of science fiction. Although I am currently studying for a career in the
sciences, I’ve always been interested in both the rigorous, empirical search for universal truth
represented by the hard sciences and the subjective search for human truth represented by literature
and humanities. To me, the perfect marriage of those searches is science fiction, and in my childhood
I devoured works by writers like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. I admired how they could write
stories that were both grounded in real science and capable of raising difficult questions about what it
meant to be human.
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| Arthur C. Clarke Taken from biography.com |
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| Isaac Asimov Taken from biography.com |
Unfortunately, my experience in school was much like what Snow described, “a gulf of mutual
incomprehension”(Snow 4) between science and the humanities. Classes in school were completely
separated from each other, with no synergy whatsoever between what was being taught in science class
and what was being taught in English class. Science fiction as a genre was essentially entirely ignored,
relegated to the status of mere entertainment. Many of my classmates, no doubt pushed by their Asian
parents towards careers in STEM, many of them participants in math competitions and robotics clubs,
saw little value in literature, mostly choosing to not even read the books assigned by the teachers and
rely on the online Sparknotes instead.
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| Sparknotes Banner Taken from the Sparknotes website |
Before reading these authors’ perspectives, my interest in science fiction was mostly just a clever
way for me to indulge both of my dueling interests in science and literature. However, now I recognize
that science fiction can mean much, much more than that. As Vesna wrote in her article “Toward a
Third Culture”, artists are “critical in helping to heal and bridge the painful communication gap” (Vesna
122) between the science and the humanities. Perhaps by writing works of science fiction that explore how
today’s exciting science might create the society of tomorrow, I could be a part of the third culture that can
bridge the gap. Science fiction can challenge the science-oriented to think more deeply about the human
impact of their empirical discoveries, and help the humanities-oriented to understand science and how it
impacts culture and enhances art. I’ll definitely keep that goal in mind when writing in the future.
Sources:
“Arthur C. Clarke.” Biography.com, 27 Oct. 2015, https://www.biography.com/writer/ arthur-c-clarke.
Accessed 2 April 2021.
“Isaac Asimov.” Biography.com, 2 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/writer/isaac-asimov.
Accessed 2 April 2021.
Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.
Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.
Wilson, Stephen D. Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.
College Art Association Meetings. New York, New York, 2000. Print
Sparknotes. Barnes & Noble, www.sparknotes.com. Accessed 2 April 2021.
Hello. ( :
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with the points you outlined about how science fiction is overlooked and relegated to the realm of pop-culture entertainment schlock, when it's such a great intersection between the sciences and literatures. I think that the divide between the cultures doesn't just exist in higher education and beyond, but as you said, is perpetuated in the structure of our public education. The insistence of teaching curriculum that focuses solely on either science or arts runs the risk of isolating half the students. In the same vein that only science oriented students involve themselves in the sciences, only artistic students involve themselves in the arts. A lot of students fail to appreciate subjects for their own merits, which is not only extremely disappointing, but a consequence of the education system choosing to isolate students who don't regard those studies as any more than class credits. Unfortunately, I doubt that any amount of educational reform would affect the attitudes of students.
- Ryan W.