The Two Cultures And The Real World: Paper by Lui Lam (Department of Physics, San Jose State University). Abstract: >>The "two cultures" refer to the scientific culture and the literary culture, pointed out by C.P. Snow in the 1950s. The former derives from the study of material systems from the natural sciences, while the latter comes from the understanding of humans. However, humans are Homo sapiens--a (biological) material system, and are thus a part of the natural sciences since the latter is the study of all material systems. Consequently, science and the humanities are unified at the fundamental level--they are all "science matters". The apparent "gap" comes from the different levels of scientific development, the deficiency in the school curricula, and the unfortunate misconception reinforced by current science communications. To help close this gap, a general-education course--The Real World--was introduced and taught by the author at SJSU. In the beginning, the students divided themselves into three groups; each group has a focused topic. Each group tried to find out the current status and the frontier in the scientific study of the chosen topic--through books, the Web and interviewing of experts. Concurrently, the instructor gave lectures on complex systems--on fractals, chaos, power-law phenomena, and active walks. These topics can link up science and the humanities. By pointing out the common themes and unifying principles, the merging of humanities with science could be achieved.<<
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posted by johannes,
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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