When I was a little younger, I was a devoted fan of the movie Jurassic Park. I still like it, although I do not petition my family to watch it nearly so often as I once did. Although neither the movie nor the book on which it was based are exceptionally good art, the story's creator, Michael Crichton, spoke and still speaks on subjects like global warming, genetic research, and other aspects of technology with sanity and intelligence. In the movie version of Jurassic Park, the character Ian Malcolm says a line something like (I paraphrase): "Your scientists were so taken with pursuing what they could do that never stopped to wonder if they should." He is speaking to the creator of a biological park that has learned how to genetically create dinosaurs from DNA left over in the blood of prehistoric mosquitos. The result, as many who read this may know, is disaster: human corruption and ignorance of the real magnitude of the undertaking (not to mention of the behavioral patterns of the dinosaurs themselves) take several lives and lead to the destruction of the park.
I have found Ian Malcolm's statement a peculiarly succinct expression of my concerns over modern technology and economics, concerns that I know many share. Those who invent and use modern technology have the ability, divine Providence allowing, to push the levels of innovation, production, and consumption to the limit. In the foreseeable future, our economies will simply continue to grow. The question is, do we want this?
I am the first to admit that technology has done many wonders for the world. I was born just on the cusp of the cellular phone technology, and have been able to access the internet since I was probably 6 or 7. Doubtless it was around earlier than that, since Al Gore is sufficiently older than I am to have invented it before my birth. ;-) And, although I often envision and write about societies in which none of these technologies exist, I am sure that it would be a strange, inconvenient, sometimes difficult adjustment to be suddenly deprived of them. They have enabled earth's largest populations to enjoy the largest over-all wealth and prosperity, and given us unprecedented means to save time and exploit the world's resources.
Despite this, however, many men and women seem to have failed to realize an important truth: every coin has two sides. Every human advancement is laden with consequences, usually unintended, that can mitigate some (or all) of its benefits. Although I am no extremist when it comes to global warming, it is certainly true that technological advancements like cars, airplanes, and trains have the consequence of consuming fossil fuels and emitting carbon monoxide. I don't think that this will lead to Armageddon in the next four minutes, or kill all the polar bears, but I am sure that it has some kind of harmful impact. It's certainly made us tied to the apron-strings (or AK-47 barrels) of the Middle East.
It isn't only cars and trucks and things that go, either: the use of chemicals on crops have prevented some harmful diseases and the ravages of insects, but I think (I have no solid proof on hand to back this up, so correct me if I am wrong) that there are mitigating circumstances attendant on this practice as well. We have also poured billions of dollars into satellites searching for extra-terrestrial signals, manned missions to the moon, and probes sent to photograph stars and planets. Although these are interesting exhibitions of economic and technological power, and perhaps fascinate some people, I at least find them ultimately useless, particularly when 1) I doubt we will find little green men or cures of cancer one some distant planet--the Bible tells us to consider the heavens, but not that God has peopled (martianed?) them--and 2) there are so many more important things on our own planet that NASA's prodigious talent and budget could probably better serve.
How do we reconcile these two sides of the coin? In the same way, I think, that we ought to reconcile anything else: by following God's will and changing the hearts of men. We are still supposed to be good stewards of the earth, whether we are using plows or combines, chariots or Mercedes, and the very fact that our capacity for destruction has increased many times ought to increase our caution and our respect for what we are tinkering with even more. Dangerous tools require careful handling. We can fly probes to Mars, invent birth control pills, build 4,000 Wal-Marts, and probe and poke about the limits of human capacity in a myriad of different ways.
But should we?
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2 comments:
Right on as usual. I have often thought that development for its own sake is pointless. It seems that if something can be done, we feel we must do it. As if we are somehow not reaching our full potential unless we have accomplished everything we can think of. I am among those who find space exploration fascinating, but I do see and agree with your point that much of it is ultimately useless. Why exactly do we need to know how a chick would hatch or a spider would build a web in space? It would never happen naturally anyway. (Speaking of considering the heavens, I thought it was very interesting that two of the Apollo atsronauts abandoned atheism after travelling to the moon. Only one became a Christian as far as I know, but they both said they realized that the universe could not have come into being by accident. The heavens indeed declare the glory of God.)
David,
Thanks! I'm sorry if I was a little hard on space exploration. I have, of course, no problem with people who are interested in what space is like, and though it doesn't pull me too much, I can certainly understand finding it fascinating. To be more precise, I think the main problem I have with NASA in particular (or comparable programs elsewhere) is that they use public money for the enterprise which could be more suitably used elsewhere. If private individuals and entrepreneurs wanted to pool money for a space program, then that's a different story.
That is great about those astronauts, though. God be praised for that!
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