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Science and
Technology:
A promise or a Threat?
Dr.
Alan Baharlou
Before
the 15th century and the dawn of the scientific revolution "renaissance",
people died of disease or minor illnesses and encountered unexpected natural
forces such as tornadoes, hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, or volcanic
eruptions. People believed that told that the reasons for all these happenings
were beyond their comprehension and control and happened because of the
will of a supernatural power. In ancient civilization times, people created
gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Poseidon, Venus, Meteora, Vulcan, and
Mars in their own image with supernatural powers. The Judeo Christian
and Islamic teachings combined the powers of all these previous gods and
goddesses into one male God whose will determined life and death and the
actions, timing, intensity, and consequences of all natural forces. Up
to this point people accepted all of natural events, including how long
people lived and how they died, as destiny and the reasons were the will
of god that were unchangeable by humans.
At the dawn of the scientific revolution "renaissance" which
was heralded with a simple statement expressed by Francis Bacon, that
there are natural rational reasons for all forces and events including
our own lives and deaths and that we can discover, predict, or determine
the outcome of these forces and events and change them by our own will.
From that moment we are no longer living on a tiny planet in the middle
of a solar system menaced by Satan and hostage to our destiny. We came
to believe that through the struggle and sacrifice of many people, we
discover the causes of all events that surround us. We have discovered
the causes of many diseases and have extended human life twice as long,
traveled to other planets, sent a space craft to other galaxies, can hear
sounds and see images across the planet Earth and from other parts of
the universe. We have called ourselves Homo Sapiens (reasoning humans)
and have risen to the occasion. Our knowledge, critical thinking, and
self confidence have brought us to this point. However, this is still
the early part of our journey and the future that lies ahead of us is
where we will live the rest of our lives. Our scientific discoveries and
technological innovations have brought us this far and will carry us further
into a tumultuous future as we invent it.
But technology is a double edged sword and society's adjustments have
not been comparable to the extraordinary advancements in scientific discoveries
and their technological applications. We about fifty -eight years ago
purposely exploded two nuclear bombs over two of the most populated cities
in the world. Three-Mile Island and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
accidents were caused by human error and had world-wide consequences.
Planes that transport us across the planet in a short time became weapons
of destruction on September 11. Science and technology do not have morality.
We must adhere to morality matching the tumultuous civilization we have
become and worthy of the tremendous power we have acquired. Imagine the
benefit to mankind if we used all of the power and potential that science
and technology have bestowed on us to achieve human needs, hopes, and
aspirations.
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