The intersection between Science and Humanities – Resonant Quote

The humanities are siblings of the sciences in their embrace of intellectual rigor and free inquiry.

Burdick et al. “One: From Humanities to Digital Humanities,” in Digital_Humanities (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012), 4.

This particular passage grabbed my attention since I agree with and relate to the statement. I have long appreciated the sciences but almost always shied away from the humanities. At Carleton however, they realize that pushing students such as myself a little outside of our comfort zone is very beneficial. The liberal arts environment forced every Carleton student, including me, to take an A&I (Argument & Inquiry) course freshman fall. Mine was Literature and Science, which I took hoping for the slight chance it was more about science than literature.

I was wrong.

Since that class, I have taken many 300-level courses in both physics and computer science. However, I consider that class just as intellectually rigorous and provoking as higher-level science classes.

This quote reminds me of my A&I and how much that helped prepare me for the rest of college. I have found myself being the most intellectually challenged in some of my humanities courses, despite all the science classes I continue to take. It has made me realize how much I appreciate the diversity of classes that we take here at Carleton. This is why I am excited to see what Hacking the Humanities is like. It seems like it will nicely combine the science that I like with more of a taste of the humanities. This term, I am the most eager to pursue techniques used for analysis and design as it pertains to the combination of technology and the humanities. I hope to understand what types of technology jobs there are in the humanities. I also hope to come away with a sense of whether I would like to use my technology skillset in the humanities in the future.