The Two Cultures Lecture by C.P. Snow

C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” lecture was a call to bridge the divide between the sciences and the humanities, embodied by the multi-disciplinary computer art. Snow argued that this gap, and the lack of understanding between the two groups, was detrimental to society’s progress. In the 1960s and 1970s, “The Two Cultures debate framed much of the early criticism and reception of computer art.” Early computer artists were primarily from a scientific background and viewed art from a technical perspective, leading to their work being dismissed by traditional artists and critics.