In the 19th century, Thomas Love Peacock, the author of numerous social satires, made the following observation. “I almost think it is the ultimate destiny of Science to exterminate the human race.” Approximately one hundred years later, having just witnessed the power of an atomic explosion, a famous physicist made a similar observation. The physicist’s name was Robert Oppenheimer. He said, “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds” (Sherwin 501).
Both men believed that Science, if left to its own devices, would probably annihilate mankind. Many others agreed, while still others disagreed. Literature is replete with end-of-the-world scenarios, in which humanity is responsible for its own demise. And of course, Hollywood picked up on the theme, producing myriad apocalyptic blockbusters. These books and movies reflect a simple proposition, that of cause and effect. The effect is the extermination of the human race. The cause is Science run amok.
Science is responsible for thermonuclear weapons, bio-chemical weapons, the slow destruction of the ozone layer, and the pollution of the earth. And even worse horrors are on the horizon. Science is already engaged in genetic experiments, bio-engineering of foods, time-space travel, and promises that nanotechnology will soon be a reality.
Religion, which is the opposite of Science, condemns such scientific advances as heretical. They are nothing more than mankind playing at being God. Religious thought presents a hierarchy of causes. At the top of the hierarchy is God. He is the governing cause. When mankind forgets his place in the pecking order, as he did in the Garden of Eden, the outcome is disaster. Religion names such hubris “sin.” According to Religion, the result of sin is death. In the Garden of Eden, the resulting death was spiritual in nature. In the modern world, because of the secular manipulations of Science, the result could be the extermination of humanity.
The debate between Science and Religion goes on and on, ad infinitum. Essentially, the debate revolves around humanity’s fear of death. Death is the ultimate effect. Science declares that it can, if given the time and resources, eventually conquer death. In other words, Science can eradicate all the causes of death. Religion declares that ‘the truth’ will set you free. In this case, the truth is faith, religious understanding. Or as Oswald Spengler put it: “God is man’s refuge from the Destiny which he can feel and livingly experience” (Spengler 320).
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
What a barrel of nonsense. It's fascinating that a supposedly rational adult can make this moronic argument.
You talk as if science was a personification independent of human control. Make no mistake: science is not "responsible for" weapons of mass destruction, the depletion of the ozone layer and industrial pollution: PEOPLE are.
Certainly science was used as a tool to accomplish all those things, but blaming science is like saying jump ropes are evil because this little girl was murdered with one.