Exploring The Cultural Divide Between Science And The Humanities

Tom Wallis The gap between the cultures of science and the
humanities has grown progressively larger as generations of each
side have learned to further disregard the other. Worryingly, a
point of view that the humanities have nothing to contribute is
infecting Silicon Valley and tech culture at large. A recent
Stephen Hawking quote is symptomatic of the problem: “Philosophy is
dead”. This should concern us: cultural change is now brought about
by people who increasingly shun cultural study, and it is easy to
envision a future where those who work in technology are bankrupt
in their understanding of the humanities. There is a lot of danger
in “disrupting” people’s lives without a solid ability to assess
what the disruption might bring about. Countering Hawking, this
talk explores what technology loses out on in this growing
philosophical bankruptcy, taking philosophy and computing science
as examples. It will cover how cultural studies bring about unique
analytical skills, and show that without them the tech industry can
be left vulnerable to manipulation, a dangerous threat. This
naturally leads to a discussion of the utility of the humanities:
some of these analytical skills are adopted in tech implicitly, and
there is a definite opportunity to strengthen this part of the
industry by changing course and working closer with the humanities.
Ultimately though, the talk will demonstrate that a field’s utility
alone is not sufficient in measuring its value.