The fruits of scientific research and the wonders of advanced technology are everywhere, tangible and visible to everybody! But are they here to stay? Are we sure future generations will live to see them and enjoy them?
The bicycles and motor vehicles on our roads, the trains on the rails, airplanes flying the vast skies above and rockets and satellites orbiting the outer space are all fruits of science and technology! The triumph of the human mind!
We are living in a technological and digital world! The mobile phone is now common even in the remote villages of Africa! The Internet, Facebook, Twitter etc, all these are fruits of science and technology, which have revolutionised human communication! And have bridged the enormous distances between us, turning the world into a global village!!
The human mind is constantly in search for knowledge! Even the poor people who never had a chance to go to school are searching for knowledge within their limits to cope with life and its daily challenges!
As for scientific researchers, they are spending sleepless nights in private, national and international laboratories and the Space laboratory trying to find the key and explanation to the mystery of the universe and the enigma of life!
Using advanced ground telescopes and sophisticated space-crafts like : Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, Astronomers and Astrophysicists have plunged into deep space to study the origins of the universe, the formation of stars, black holes etc! And Astrobiologists have joined them in search of the possibility of life on other planets beyond the earth!
A new French video called: Du Big Bag Au Vivant (which translates: From the Big Bag to life) is out! It discusses among other things: the galaxies, the planets, their sizes and the distances between them, the sun as a nuclear reactor, the spectacular explosion of a dying star (supernova), the beautiful colours of the stars, etc.
As I watched the unfolding of the marvels of the universe in this video, several questions crossed my mind, namely: What is the ultimate goal of our hunger, thirst and search for knowledge? In other words, what do we want to achieve as the very last and final goal of our scientific endeavours and struggles? And can science really survive without religion?
I call upon both the scientific community and the religious community to reflect seriously on these questions. And together formulate and articulate the ultimate goal of our scientific project and research. For experience shows that the knowledge obtained through our scientific and technological breakthroughs, can be used for both good and evil purposes!
Breakthroughs in the medical field, for example: the discovery of vaccines, antibiotics, and organ transplant, has led to the improvement of the quality of human life. But 11 September, 2001 will always be remembered as a day of unspeakable terror! The day, passenger jets, fruits of high technology, were turned into deadly weapons that crashed into the World Trade Centre and reduced it to a heap of ruins and ashes killing thousands of people.
So the possibility that we can wipe the whole human family out of existence by the knowledge we have obtained through scientific research and technological advancement is very real. Scientists, politicians, tycoons who finance scientific projects and religious leaders, should therefore urgently address this problem! And it should be a concern of everybody.
This threat of humanity’s possible self-destruction using the very knowledge we have struggle to obtain through scientific and technological research, in my opinion comes from five basic corners:
• Scientific fundamentalism
• Religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance
• Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry
• Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research
• Militarisation of outer space
The stance or view held by some scientists which attributes absolutely no positive value to religion and intentionally and systematically seeks its eradication from society and from the human mind, is what I call, scientific fundamentalism!
For example, one of Britain’s leading scientists, Richard Dawkins who is described as: The UK’s Chief Atheist, has declared that religion is a delusion, incompatible with science. To this effect he wrote his now famous book: The God Delusion.
According to him: faith – belief that is not based on evidence – is one of the world’s great evils. And he compares religion to the virus of the mind which is difficult to eradicate!
But the eradication of religion seen as a virus, from the human mind, heart and society, will lead to a human disaster that will eventually bring about our total self destruction. The human race without God will for sure wipe itself out of existence!
What we call, religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance has been around since time immemorial! But what makes it so dangerous today is that religious fanatics have access to advanced weaponry technology! They are capable of constructing and assembling devastating bombs! And some already have in their possession sophisticated modern weapons of high tech!
And throughout the world we are witnessing almost at daily basis the heinous crimes committed by these religious fanatics: Muslims, Christians, Hindus etc, alike! They kill innocent people in the name of God or Allah! As they acquire more advanced technical know- how in weaponry construction, these people are capable of doing something that can wipe the entire human race out of existence!
Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry! Some scientific research projects are in the realm and category of what is called: Top security secrets! An article in Idea Connection entitled: Secrecy in scientific research, states thus:
A considerable amount of scientific research is conducted in institutes or under contracts which preclude dissemination of the results to other than a select group. … Secrecy may be maintained either to gain a military advantage (in the case of defense research) or to gain commercial advantage (in the case of industrial research).
The same article adds: While secrecy in science may be necessary to protect the human race from damage or extinction, secrecy in science in order to increase private profits is morally indefensible.
I have the feeling that if we are not careful, this defense research and the rivalry between different nations, if not checked, might one day bring the human race to the doors of its extinction!
Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research is a reality we cannot deny! The dignity of the human person has been totally eroded in some scientific research projects! And this is a very dangerous move for the human family.
It has been discovered that some scientists have secretively created what is called, human-animal hybrids. They created embryos from a mixture of human and animal genes. This is totally unacceptable if we still have a sense of respect for the human person. And scientists of this kind, for whom human dignity means nothing, are surely capable of producing something in the laboratory that can wipe out the entire human family and release it out of the lab confinements!
An article posted on 25 July 2011 by Mail Online, entitled: 150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs: Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years, has this to say :
Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories. …
The revelation comes a day after a committee of scientists warned of a night mare ‘Planet of Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.
Last night a campaigner against the excess of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.
Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.
Militarization of outer space! If we think, the end of the cold war ended the arms race, we are very deceived! It is still going on unabated and in ways that are more sophisticated than ever before! It is going on in the ocean depths below and in the outer space above!
This unabated arms race among Super powers is no good news! It puts the human race on its toes! Militarizing ocean depths, the earth’s surface and now the outer space above is a real cause for concern! It is an indication that we are constantly creating paths and possibilities, for humanity’s self-destruction!
In an article entitled: Chinese break own deep-water record, posted on 22 July 2011 by The Australian, we thus read:
A Chinese submersible conducted the country’s deepest dive ever Thursday in the latest milestone for China’s deep-sea ambitions as it seeks to exploit the vast resources of the ocean floor. … [Remember these deep-sea crafts have military capability also!]
Chinese technical capabilities have gathered pace in recent decades, exemplified by a fast growing space programme that in 2003 made China the third nation to conduct a manned space flight.
That we have already put military or weapon systems in space is no longer a secret. For many of the satellites orbiting the outer space are for military purposes! For example some of the operations (especially communication) of the deadly Apache helicopters can be done only with the help of satellites. And all the Super powers have satellites in space!
And the idea of space militarisation goes back to the 1960s. In his address to Rice University on 12 September 1962 President, John F. Kennedy had this to say:
Space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying threat of war.
It is true: science, genetic engineering and technology have no conscience of their own! Whether we use them for good or ill depends on us. However, without religion, without God can we expect to use them for good?
The total moral bankruptcy and lack of respect for the human person, manifested by those scientists engaged in the creation of human-animal hybrids, reveal what science without God, without religion does! Destruction of the human being! Science guided by moral bankruptcy is a nightmare and a weapon of self-destruction. Science without religion cannot survive!
Without a conscience enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, we shall eventually destroy all the fruits of science and technology we have achieved so far! We shall put an end to the wonders of our digital age!
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
