Science is an excellent Servant but a negative Master
"Science has now known sin. "
The life of man was very different from what it was 100 years again. Today, we are all living in a world of modern Science that revolutionized our current society. We can observe how it eventually transformed our lives by making everything easier and faster. Knowledge has helped man to lead a better life than previously through communication, health, security, travel and entertainment but on the other side, Science is not merely for our own good. It has generated deadly and dangerous weapons which is mostly used for conflict. Guns, rifles and grenades are some of these weapons that made man more violent, but the atomic bomb which could wipe out depends upon had induced a lot of fighting and death of innocent people.
The quotation above is from the book Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut that talks about the inability of Research as it was used to set-up the most dangerous weapon on the planet, getting rid of all life varieties on Earth. In relation to that, the subject itself of the novel is a children's game that loops strings to make figures and the way it was used in the book is to explore how humans shape the planet through Knowledge and their own stupidity of misusing it that has led to their own devastation. The novel's recurring themes like scientific advancements and damage of humanity illustrates a cross interconnection and relevance to real life. It warns that if scientific advancement continues without a concurrent progress in ethical understanding, annihilation of the human race is a real possibility.
Based from the book "Critical Friend to Kurt Vonnegut" by Susan Farrell, it criticizes the same idea that Science has already known sin through its technological advancements, since the society had completely take off from human considerations and I say that that what the author said is true because it is historically proven that the combo of Research with human stupidity will lead to numerous complications and cause a whole lot of ecological destructions which put our lives in a great danger. It becomes clear if you ask me that a lot of people have become blind to moral basis because they put too much beliefs in Science plus they feel that they can understand and control everything through it.
How the entire world works is still insufficient to fulfill most human beings, where greed could be the primary source of our very own destruction. Science is a part of everyone's lives that provided framework and stability. But some individuals may consider Knowledge beyond sin, since it only seeks knowledge. As Technology is still created in a moral vacuum and become utilised without appropriate awareness of the individual outcomes, all life on Earth would be in trouble and if it continues to seek in the wrong place and show no symptoms of correcting itself, it'll only lead to the damage of mankind because knowledge will not always mean improvement and that improvement is not always beneficial for everything has implications.
Most apocalyptic science fiction novels become a caution with regards of too much mistreatment of Science and its own technologies. It largely explores the possible effects that human may encounter in the foreseeable future if scientific finding and research continues in a wrong way. Global situations like the World Conflict II possessed greatly added to the attractiveness and growth of the form of books when the opportunity of widespread devastation and real human extinction caused by nuclear weapons became a big public concern and a dominating threat. Although some novels just serve as a reflection to our real life and provide extreme care about the problems of nuclear wars, novels like Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut symbolizes a realistic framework of the world we reside in. It was made up of a personal tone which speaks about the author's personal encounters in World Warfare II. It symbolizes on man's capacity to destroy life on the planet with its creation of the true atomic bomb which was used to harm Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the warfare in August 1945. The book can be an allegory that described on how the world was once ruined by man through Science by means of nuclear bomb and it is also an author's warning in which this kind of disaster could possibly happen again and bring about a terrible future for all of us.
As stated by Fumika Nagano in her criticism from the book "Bloom's Modern Critical Views: Kurt Vonnegut", Cat's Cradle is a book that discusses the political mistreatment of Knowledge through its systems that created an atomic bomb, a weapon for mass damage specifically in World Battle II. Based on the book, it was reported that it killed a great deal of innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and people also died from rays poisoning but some who survived developed some hereditary diseases in which they passed on to the next era such as leukemia. Kurt Vonnegut mentioned in that publication that he completely lost his trust in Science when "we decreased scientific truth on Hiroshima". I understand for myself that we've been still surviving in a global with these unending wars however the only method for us to endure is to believe independently and reflect on ourselves. We have to try to avoid being ridiculous unthinking sheep that simply do what many people are doing and accepts whatever the contemporary society accepts. We need to set ourselves in addition to the rest of the ignorant culture.
Felix Hoenikker is not a common villainous antagonist in the book. He's an absent-minded person that lacks fascination with his family, especially along with his children. He lacks an understanding of basic real human thoughts. But everyone appreciates his contribution to Knowledge as he was considered the daddy of the atomic bomb and the creator of the weapon ice-nine, which later brings about the Earth's devastation and the finish of all lives.
Ice-nine is a tiny chemical that Dr. Hoenikker secretly created but eventually falls in to the hands of the dominating authorities in the book. It is solid at room heat and has a melting point of 45. 8Ж. When this substance makes connection with liquid water that has a temperatures below the melting point of ice-nine like the seas or oceans, it can cause the solidification of the complete body of normal water and will result to a string of ecological destruction and end all life on Earth.
Dr. Hoenikker is the antagonist of the storyplot scheduled to his notion and views of life. When he was asked about the relationship of knowledge and sin, he asks, "What is sin?" From these situations, he truly implies that he will not value people or morality and his lack of ability to comprehend can create destruction and assault around him.
Vonnegut required us to see Dr. Felix Hoenikker as a representation of the so called "saints" in the field of Science, which will be the scientists who pursue abstract real truth and knowledge without considering individual consequences. Many of them nowadays has been blinded by power and fame where they just don't value others. Some of them works for the government in which they are simply being manipulated and handled to build weaponry for war. The goal for some experts is to make their innovations successful and the result of destroying dynamics and killing innocent people is not their matter.
In support to that, corresponding to Walter Shear on his literary criticism entitled "Kurt Vonnegut: The Comic Destiny of Sensibility", Research exists just like a game for experts in which they play without considering any ethical values and regardless of the destructive results it can have like bad wars and dehumanization of most person in the contemporary society. I truly agree on his idea about experts today because for me, experts consider themselves as masters of nature influenced by scientific advancements and I see them as frosty men of Science who are cut off from individual concerns. They made Technology to commit sin and be manipulated as an evil tool that created the most detrimental human sufferings and may lead to humanity's extinction in the future.
The novel is a complete criticism to people's ignorance. Every one of the ideas that a society retains about its progress and development including how it is achieved through research and discoveries by the use of Knowledge. However, our world's biggest or should I say the most destructive scientific breakthrough is the atomic bomb, which includes the capability of ending a large number of lives. So, a contemporary society pursuing a much better world through Knowledge is ironic because the further mankind dives into medical discoveries without honest understanding, a lot more destructive the world becomes.
Human beings always desire an increased form of fact that gives meaning with their lives. Religions have provided these higher form of truths before but because of Research, through its growth and its credibility, it became some sort of false religion. This era of background became known as "The Enlightenment". It commenced to free the people's intellects from the teachings of the church for a large number of years. They wanted to change everything and replace trust with knowledge and reason. Today, religions and religious truths have grown to be a suspect in the 21st century.
But from the criticism of Donald Morse, he brought up the negative effects of Technology in the 21st century centered from a few of Kurt Vonnegut's books including Cat's Cradle. He emphasized that people are preoccupied with the disastrous effect of weaponry like atomic bombs but we haven't given any attention on other unexpected causes of Technology that may as well lead to our extinction including pollution and environmental devastation.
Modern Science is considered now as a sizable body of knowledge and nowadays it has a large difference between the mentioned mission of it to boost and better human being life and its actual products, such as weaponry of mass devastation. Due to humanity's greediness and being blinded by riches, people would do anything to get full control of it, as it will eventually be used in wars. Research will lack a moral or unconcerned sense with the rightness or wrongness of something, if it ends up in the hands of ignorant or greedy person. Human stupidity of misusing it can cause to our own self destruction.
The event that took place in Nagasaki and Hiroshima created a fresh era for us as the globe got into the nuclear age group. For seven decades because the first atomic bomb was made, it became the researchers' ambition to keep going after and develop these kind of weaponry. Countries like U. S. , Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea have admitted that they have got nuclear weaponry. The recent atomic bombing event was the North Korean nuclear test that happen five times this season however the current one happened last September 9, 2016 and they didn't immediately declare about the test. It is like our mankind is continuously exploring new ideas how to destroy itself.
Science will only be beneficial if it'll be used as a standard good for mankind and we realize that it became our groundwork in growing societies and enhancing individual life, however all of us is also bothered on the energy that Knowledge possesses to kill life on Earth. It really is true that Knowledge can create magic by most of its discoveries and innovations however the way it is employed as a tool of mass destruction that control buttons our presence is not its fault. Human stupidity and its own unethical principles is the key cause why we've these types of weapons at the first place. Their different ideologies went too far that they had misused Research in creating detrimental weapons instead of bettering the world. In the incorrect hands, Technology will have the capacity to destroy lives of innocent people of course, if we allow it to be our get good at then it could be the finish of the world for all of us and we will be wipe out from the face of the planet earth. We should not let Technology overpower us and control our life-style. Technology should be use as a support in extending our knowledge for a great cause, promoting security and safety to everyone, building better societies, improving real human life and strengthening our moral responsibility. Therefore, it should be our servant in a great way, and not to become our expert.
