In the end, Mr. Cornwell asks, "Will scientists today, in an increasingly crisis-ridden world, in which they are ever more dependent on paymasters to pursue their vocations, behave like the fellow travelers under Hitler...?" Or will their actions be based on a "highly developed grasp of politics and ethics"?
"The best defence against the prostitution and abuse of science," he argues, is to be, in the words of Joseph Rotblat, "human beings first and scientists second." Given the all too human failings of the scientists he describes, some readers may wonder whether, despite Mr. Cornwell's exhortations, scientists in the twenty-first century will act with any more enlightenment than the title scientists of his book.
Dr. Fred Bortz is the author of numerous science books for young readers.
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Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Interesting post. Technology is a tool, it is how it is used in the hands of man that wields it that is for good or evil ends. I mean, in the beginnning of the atomic age, the idea of using nukes for large scale demolition on the scale of the Panama Canal was considered, of course, the reality soon showed how inpracticable it would be. Not only that, but technology develope d by the miiltary has been used to take lives at tiems, but it has also led to many peaceful applications that are genuine improvements over the old.
2 - Fred Bortz
I'm glad the review made you think. There's a larger issue here, and I'll pose a question to others, the same question scientists faced with the Third Reich in charge:
When do you decide to withhold your talents because you are opposed to the ways that your employer will use them? What if you were risking your ability to earn a living or even your life to do so?
Some people kiss-up. Some flee if they can. Others drag their feet. The brave ones quit. The daring ones rise in opposition.
Me? I'm subversive. I write books that make kids look at the world in new ways. Some of my books are strictly informational, but my favorites are the ones that inspire youngsters to be skeptics who think for themselves. I hope they will be brave or even daring when they face difficult questions.
3 - Cheesy
I like Pie. =)
4 - Cheesy
I want to become Hitlers Prostitute.. =)