Literature and art talk ｜ Chat with Mr. Sai

In the 1950s, Mr. C. P. P. Snow gradually became "a public figure that is difficult to determine" because people found that he seemed to be "qualified to express his insights on any question. "".

This is because of his experience: Snow, who worked in the famous Cavendi Laboratory, was once a novel because an accident was abandoned. For a while, the physicist and novelist wandered between the science and literature circle.

These days have a profound impact on him. In 1956, Snow published an article entitled "Two Culture" in the "New Political Against" magazine; three years later, a speech entitled "Two Cultural and Scientific Revolution" at the University of Cambridge made him completely famous Big noise.

Snow's proposition

The so -called "two cultures", namely humanities and culture and science. Some people summarize this "Snow proposition": scientists should read Shakespeare, and writers should understand what the second law of thermodynamics talks. ——This saying is rough but vivid. And if the microphone is returned to Snow, he actually answered half a century ago:

"The intellectual life of Western society has become increasingly divided into two extreme groups. One is literary intellectuals, and the other is a scientist ... From the Berxin Pavilion to the South Kenston or Chelsea, it is like a ocean ... ... … In fact, such a trip is even more difficult than far away, because the Atlantic Ocean that has passed thousands of miles, people will find that the residents of the Village of Grindini speak the same language as the Chelsea, and the people in these two places cannot be the same as hemp at all. People from the Provincial Institute of Technology communicate, as if scientists there will only speak Tibetan. "

Snow's description is more like a realistic footnote, which is more like a preset for the future. The view of the "two cultures" is very controversial, and it is difficult to draw conclusions for half a century or even longer. It's difficult. For a hypothesis, we can overthrow, but we can't find a certificate. At that time, the iconic figure of the English Department of Cambridge F. R. Leavis could not spare no effort on Snow. He criticized him for not being outstanding in intelligence; his speech was "exactly the full lack of intellectual characteristics and embarrassing vulgar style"; literary accomplishment "every page written by literature is equal to white paper, empty -hole." However, Lavis has always been famous for being as thin as "Garwin, who is artistic, and taught them to hate 90%of them before educating young people."

Leaving aside the disobediences of others, Snow himself was not very satisfied with the academic expression of the concept of "two cultures". To this day, no one describes the concept of "science culture". Of course, this makes people doubt about the value of "Snow proposition". However, Stefan Collini, who wrote the guide for "Two Culture", said:

"Although there are such disadvantages, Snow's demonstration has a valuable impact in preventing us from being able to meet the knowledge status of today's era. The division of disciplines is completely divided, the lack of mutual understanding, the worship of different professional groups, good worship and worship of different professional groups, good worship and dislikes in different professional groups, and good worship and worship in different professional groups. Emotional feelings should be regarded as problems, and should not be accepted as an unchanged order of things. "

The significance of the "Snow proposition" is not only in itself, but also subsequent discussions and reflection.

Loser

The division of "humanities and culture" and "science culture" starts from the increasingly detailed and professionalism caused by scientific progress. Human brain can no longer store such information, even if the so -called "knowing elements" can not be proficient in people. Museum of ancient times is no longer. When Wikipedia became the last artist in the world, humanities and science seemed to have become the southern cavity and north.

At the same time, people's curiosity has begun to fall aside because of the pursuit of practicality. Social scholar Zheng Yefu once sighed: "In the same university campus in China, it is difficult for a year to have a person who moves straight from the Department of Sociology or Chinese Department to the Department of Biology, even if they live together. Someone walks around, most of them are cleaners. "

This is the reality. Humanities and science calls are lonely. The impetuousness of society has become an excuse while becoming a consensus.

But the dialogue still needs to be proceeded: between the disciplines after subdivisions; between the two cultures; between the public and science.

Fortunately, there are still some facts that make people excited: "Species Origin" is not unpredictable, and "The Universe in the Fruit" is far more popular than publishers predicted. Whether scientists and the public can communicate with each other, sometimes depend on the scientists' understanding of readers, or how strong the desire to communicate with readers.

"A encouraging sign is that among the well -known experts, Stephen Jay Gould appeared, Richard Dawkins (Richard Dawkins), and Stephen Hawking ( Stephen Hawking) People like people. They show the possibility of popularizing the highest level of creative scientific research to the majority of readers. It is worth noting that the reason why they can achieve this is not because they want to be Hyundai Da Vinci, and they have spanned horizontally across the way The desires of major advanced knowledge areas. What they tried to do is that even if all technical details cannot be retained, they must let readers outside the professional have to taste the interest of research. "

Stephen Korini's interpretation of the above scientists through paper. The existence of these people undoubtedly provides a good (perhaps the best) paradigm for the establishment of exchanges -scientists go directly to talk to the public. We can finally be fortunate: there is no need to recreate the "extinction" of the scholars. But obviously, this kind of dialogue is not easy.

There are carrots in each pit of science

Not all scientists are willing to talk to the public, let alone all scientists know how to talk to the public. For the public, Mr. Science is basically a distant and serious strange old man who lives in a brief. Occasionally meet the public, and you must also speak unknown language. Therefore, Stephen Hawking is valuable to watch with his rarity equivalent, not to mention that not all readers can understand "Simple History of Time".

In fact, there are carrots in every pit in science, which is delicious and sweet. The scientists are carefully cultivated, but everyone can do it. When the perspective of my generation touched the blind spots, the work of picking requires others to help. ——This is the so -called popular science.

Popular science is between science and the public. Direct dialogue between scientists and the public can also be called a "third culture" in the "third culture" in J. Brockman (J. Brockman); although ordinary science popularization is not so deep and deep, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious, but it is not so deep and mysterious. Often can attract the interest of the public. Because science gets the understanding code in their hands, it is no longer just one formula and a series of sibes. In fact, in any form of popular science, as long as it is not separated from seeking truth and beauty, it will have its value.

Want to know how far science is from us, maybe you can see how close the technology is from us.

Popular science author Meng Yan has the official position of college teachers. The label he posted on himself was: the house, and the "dead hardware" in it. "House" here is just a state of life, not a mental state. And this state of life itself is exactly the derivation of technology.

Mammoth expects the advancement of technology, but also questioned, "In fact, we are blindly trusting these technologies. Where these technologies will bring us to, I don’t know." The fierceness in this mass carnival feast remained awake.

Xing Lida's field is paleomantic. As an ancient biologist, he loved dinosaurs since he was a child, and he founded the first dinosaur website in high school. Paramranity is a cross -disciplinary discipline, and dinosaur studies are crossed and then cross. He laughed that Darwin was "a 'otaku' to do what he likes."

There is a paragraph in the dinosaur research community: No matter how much the child loves dinosaurs, he will not cry for the extinction of the dinosaurs. In this regard, Xing Lida has his own understanding: without the death of dinosaurs, there is no mammal today. Any animal has an extinct day, including humans, and none of them are eternal.

Liu Ye, who nicknamed Orange Gang in the squirrel, is no longer a simple popular science author. In the last year, she completed the role of the author to the "test tube". Liu Ye's first job after graduating from the University of Chicago's cell biology was a science scout. In addition to finding a suitable scientist, she also has to "packaged and processed" scientists and their knowledge. How similar is the small test tube that helps others in the IVF, but her pregnancy is replaced by scientific knowledge.

Chatting with these three Copers, you will find how close science is from us, how rich and vivid it is. Look at the content of our ancestor Kangxi in his notes- "Several Live Style": astronomy, geography, paleontology, animals, plants, medicine, philosophy ... as Mr. Jiang Xiaoyuan said: " Science is a public instrument in the world, not only scientists are qualified to talk about. "

Therefore, no matter whether it is an emperor or ordinary man, anyone can talk to Mr. Sai. He was by our side.

Article Source: Economic Observation News

Image source: Tuwa Creative

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