-George Santayana
The title of the article itself seems like a paradox. Science brings forth a sense of development; everything in our world today is related to science. However, coupling it with the hindrance of civilisation just seems ridiculous. Now imagine a world without science, would civilisation still exist? The answer would be no, we would most likely still be living in the prehistoric, surviving as cavemen.
However, looking at the flipside of this issue, we are reaching the position where the real power has fallen into the hands of nuclear scientists who possess the means of whole-sale destruction. Such brain-power often goes together with psychological immaturity and childish dreams of an “international society” in which all knowledge should be pooled. Such idealism, noble in the abstract, is dangerous in an imperfect world, particularly, when scientists reveal potentially dangerous secrets or defect from one political block to another. Today, science is indeed the enemy of civilisation in this sense.
People who think that science is a menace to civilisation may argue that even though science helped humans, but it harmed the environment and wildlife. This is not completely true. Charles Darwin’s investigations and theories made us respect animals more. Knowing that we had a common ancestry with animals causes us to respect and take care of animals. Without this knowledge, we may be still treating animals as purely food sources.
Further considerations are the fact that science has made warfare easy for the unscrupulous. Any small or vindictive nation can purchase jet aircraft, poison gas or the high velocity rifle. Some of the more general results of science are also somewhat disquieting. Crop fertilizers taint the crops. Tampering with nature can produce imbalance or drought. Besides, animal experimenting, chemical research and farming techniques also rose in number. Only the uncivilised would allow such cruelty. But perhaps, the most important danger is that science seems to be gaining control over man himself, as it has produced what we call “modern life”, with all it nervous tension, ceaseless activity, worry and unbalanced living. City-dwellers tend to curse the machine like the computer which has forced them into a rigid pattern of restricted, high-pressure and yet monotonous living. Highly developed electrical entertainment and communication devices such as handphones, emails, etc, have posed a threat to numb our brains as it kills our life social skills and the art of conversation. So has science improved our lives? I doubt exactly so.
I acknowledge that science is not purely beneficial to civilisation. There is no such thing called ‘absolute’. Science has been used in a correct and beneficial way in most times. However, there are certain cases that I think that science overdid itself and created more harm for humans than good. One example is the nuclear bomb. We can just exterminate and eliminate our enemies at any moment with a nuclear bomb. It is a dangerous weapon that we did not need. This is what happens when humans misuse science. However, it is unfair to denounce science entirely because of specific incidents. In all, we used science the right way and more good than harm was created.
All in all, I am more inclined to agreeing that science can be a menace to civilisation. However, it is actually neither man’s enemy nor his friend. Like the jungle, it is neutral. Everything depends on man’s use or misuse of it. Today’s signs are that its worst dangers are at least being recognized. To end off, there is hope for the future, provided science is made man’s servant and not his master.
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