Does Humanity Deserve All That Science Has to Offer - Does Science Deserve Our Humanity?
The other day, I was listening to a video. It was a BBC special discussing how Einstein wrote that famous letter to FDR, as he was gravely concerned about the Germans producing a nuclear bomb. It was from that letter and the subsequent meeting that the Manhattan Project was formed. Later, Albert Einstein in his later years felt that that was the biggest mistake of his life, writing that letter. Because now the genie was out of the bottle and mankind possessed a horrible weapon.
Einstein lived long enough to witness the Cold War, and some of the nuclear proliferation, and he wasn't alone in his concerns, as you will recall Oppenheimer are was also horrified at what they had done in the name of science, and he spent the rest of his life trying to get humanity worldwide to ban the use of nuclear weapons. Now then, after watching that show it occurred to me to ask myself a question;
"Does Humanity Deserve all that science has to offer?"
In some regards it seems that it doesn't. In other words, perhaps humankind is not responsible enough to have the knowledge of what our most brilliant "Human +" scientists are able to offer. Yes, that is a sad philosophical conundrum. On one hand we need to technologies for more efficient energy, more efficient transportation, and positive things like space exploration. Unfortunately each time science makes a major breakthrough, it's more than often used for evil, by some rouge regime on the planet.
And it's not that nations shouldn't have a defense system to protect themselves from the other humans, the problem is that none of these humans appear to be as ethical, sincere, or careful with their political negotiations as they'd have you believe. After all, they are still just humans. Should we expect more? Of course, those scientists, who are used to build destructive of weapons, or are evil thinkers themselves, well, for that I have another question;
"Does science deserve our humanity?"
Now some could argue that there is no such thing as humanity, because a species which is busy killing itself, and cheating would be void of humanity, therefore there is no such thing, or the definition is quite the opposite. And even though those human scientists which we could call "human plus" - they are nevertheless still human, with the same desires, flawed personalities, and needs as all the rest. What I'd like you to do is consider all this from a philosophical perspective - I'm asking you to think about it.
Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.
By Lance Winslow
My House Is Tokyo, and My Children Are Godzillas!
"All things incline to worse, and foundering backslide, back like one whose oar can scarcely thrust his skiff upstream; if perchance he slack his arms, sternward the coursing water drags him down the rapids."--Virgil, Georgics, lines 197-199. Translated by Kimberly Johnson
The tendency of all of our work to degenerate is relentless and never-ending. For example, today, my wife and I cleaned our house. No matter how many times we clean it, it becomes messy again. This is partly due to four children, under the age of six, who play with toys, change into costumes, create art projects, take books from shelves, build huts, wet the bed, go through 3 pairs of clothes a day, and dirty dishes. These are just the regular things. There are also times of wanton and unexplainable destruction.
The house can become a disaster area within a few minutes. Clean-up may require a few hours. On some days, keeping up with the house feels like fighting the mythological hydra. The hydra was a dragon with multiple heads. Brave warriors who fought the hydra found, to their dismay, that two heads would grow to replace every one head that they severed. In our house, it's four against two. When I'm at work, it's four against one. For each mess my wife and I clean, two more may be made somewhere else in the house.
The kids try to help clean, and they succeed sometimes, but they are physically small, mentally immature, and quite a few of the messes are more than they can realistically handle. We try to create systems, schedules, and commitments to make cleaning easy for ourselves and for our children, but consistently applying our plans requires immense diligence. If perchance we slack our arms, "sternward the coursing water drags (us) down the rapids."
Even in my intellectual and artistic pursuits, I find that progress is fleeting. I might be able to miss a day or two of guitar practice, but, even after twenty years, fingers start to stiffen up if I miss a week. Admittedly, I've accumulated a lot of guitar knowledge and skills over those two decades, and certainly that progress doesn't go away in a week, but, based on what does happen after a week, I would bet that what has taken twenty years to develop would require much less than twenty years to lose.
I have read many works of literature in my life. I like to think that I am full of things to write about, but when I sit down in front of a blank page, or a blank screen, I often find myself unable to write. When this happens, I get out a book and read, looking to prime my proverbial pump. Progress has happened over the years, because I find the pump can easily be primed, but I feel fairly certain, based on those minutes spent in front of a blank screen, that if I stopped reading, the pump would run dry much more quickly than it filled. I know that I don't remember things I read a few years ago, and that I repeat mistakes that I once had eliminated.
Entropy, bitter entropy,
Works against all our work.
A horizontal hour-glass
Teeters on a fulcrum,
Between two precipices.
We stand in one side,
Shoveling sand to the other,
Switching when necessary.
When we get old, and tired,
We lay down, and then.....
By Stan Szczesny
