colingalbraithDESMA9--week 1

I relate to the ideology of two cultures. When deciding what major to choose at UCLA, I struggled between my identity as an artist and a mathematician.

(Teachers for Teachers, Deriver License)

I have always liked math – each problem is a mini puzzle. In middle school, I was proud when I earned my “derivers” license for successfully learning how to derive the quadratic formula, and I had a great time at Stanford Scholars Program in Math that summer.

However, another side of me has been fascinated with music of all genres. I am a classically trained musician. I did piano competitions as a child and have played viola for over a decade. Now, I am currently making music digitally as a Spotify artist – Lento, with over 120K monthly listeners.

(Lento, spotify page)

As such, when deciding what major to choose for applying to college, I struggled. No matter what I chose, it felt as if I would be forced to give up part of my identity. As C.P Snow wrote, “literary intellectuals at one pole-at the other scientists…Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension” (Snow 4). I decided that the best choice was to place myself in what John Brockman calls the third culture. 

Here, I have learned that I can gain technical skills that can be used creatively. I have decided to become an applied math major with a specialization in computing to focus on visual effects (VFX). I am very excited about opportunities where the artistic vision of a scene requires controlling the outcome of a physical simulation (McAdams 3). I have discovered a love for simulations which are a mix of art and math, creating models that Kevin Kelly calls a third kind of truth (Kelly). A former UCLA professor in Applied Math, Joseph Teran, is the perfect example of the “nerds of the third culture rising” (Kelly). He worked with Disney (Guo) and his own band (John).

(Disney, Frozen 2 Trailer)

He uses math to make art, bridging the gap between the two cultures, using equations to model subtle differences in things like how denim vs silk wrinkles (Guo). He shows there is a place for technical math and an artistic eye—for him and maybe me too, it is collaborating with studios like Disney doing simulations for movies like Frozen 2.

(Terran Group, material simulations)

References:

Brockman, John. The Third Culture. https://www.edge.org/conversation/john_brockman-the-third-culture, Accessed 6 Apr. 2023. 

Guo, Qi, et al. “A Material Point Method for Thin Shells with Frictional Contact.” ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 37, no. 4, 2018, pp. 1–15., https://doi.org/10.1145/3197517.3201346. 

John, Arit. “UCLA Math Professor Joseph Teran Doubles as a Member of the Indie Pop Band Sweater Girls.” Daily Bruin, 26 June 2011. 

Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture.” Science, vol. 279, no. 5353, 1998, pp. 992–993., https://doi.org/10.1126/science.279.5353.992. 

McAdams, Aleka, et al. Crashing Waves, Awesome Explosions, Turbulent Smoke, and Beyond. May 2010, https://www.math.ucla.edu/~jteran/papers/MTO10.pdf. 

Snow, CP. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University Press, 1959. 

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–125., https://doi.org/10.1162/002409401750184672. 

Images:

Derivers License Freebie Calculus. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Derivers-License-Freebie-Calculus-6320518. 

“Frozen 2 Official Trailer.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 June 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi4LMpSDccc. 

Galbraith, Colin. “Lento.” Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/artist/1GM1bRnpv4kP0DhcRJkV8u. 

“A Material Point Method for Thin Shells with Frictional Contact.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2slU2dbHvDQ&ab_channel=TeranGroup.