Hey Glenn,
YOU WROTE:
> Meanwhile, back on Earth people are indeed driving planes through
buildings,
> strapping bombs to their bodies, and aiming nuclear weapons at each other.
> Certainly the first thing that comes to my mind to blame this all on is
> NOT the scientific method (the tool that makes "amoral scientific
> objectivity" possible), but that's no reason to think it's an outlandish
> reason. It's quite possible that what we really needed was a genius like
> Pirsig to explain the insanity of the 20th century to us in an innovative
> way. It may seem a little far-fetched and a tad reactionary now, but the
idea
> that Objective Scientific Truth-Seeking Is The Root Of All Evil will grow
> on you with time....
RICK:
Planes? Bombs? Nuclear weapons? Science isn't the root of the problem,
but it doesn't take a philosopher to see how it has exacerbated the problem.
Civilizations of long ago feared destruction at the hands of conquering
armies and natural disasters. But nowadays, a war between India and
Pakistan might kill us all and render the world uninhabitable. The
increasingly threatening deterioration of the ozone layer promises to turn
weather systems on their heads, drown us in melting ice caps, and eventually
bake us all to death with UV radiation.
The problems were always there. But I think the resentment of science
comes not because it is seen as the root, but because it is seen as
apathetic. Social notions of morals and values imply limits. But science
doesn't recognize social values (or as Pirsig might say, science has no
provision for morals) and so it can't and won't respect those limits. Was
it a good idea to pursue nuclear power? Not for society, but science cares
not at all for that sort of good. Whatever the social cost, whatever the
social consequences, science pushes forward, providing ever-more-powerful
means by which conflicts may be escalated and nature may be subjugated. And
in the same way that knowledge of cures is knowledge of the poisons, it is
impossible to separate the benefits of science from its risks.
The fear of science isn't so much that it has no morals, but no limits.
Just endless potential for colossal goods and Earth-shattering evils.
rick
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