Science has always served as a primary impetus that powers and accelerates human development. Living in this highly industrialised and commercialised world, the influence science exerts on us is so profound that it might be beyond our expectation or even control. Ranging from ubiquitous access to the internet to the development of controversial scientific fields such as nuclear power and genetic engineering, science seems more like a master who dominates our daily life as well as our future, rather than a faithful servant as we assume and expect.
“I think, therefore I live.” Man used to proudly regard the ability to think as the fundamental difference between human beings and other animals. Yet, we are deprived of such ability due to our overreliance on modern scientific inventions that we developed. With the instantaneous access to the Internet, people no longer need to sit in libraries all day long, looking through piles of books in order to get pieces of information. Such tedious selection process can now be easily performed by the computer at a click of button, which is indeed more convenient and efficient, yet the ability of analysis and critical thinking is less appreciated and valued. This can be evidenced by the increasingly frequent occurrence of plagiarism in both students’ essays and professionals’ research papers. Put the moral issue aside, the act of plagiary clearly shows that people are so indulged by the convenience of the Internet that we seem to be its slaves – it is doubtful how we are going to rely on our deteriorating thinking skills to distinguish right from wrong, the significant from the spurious.
Even though Hiroshima and Nagasaki are by far the only two places that have experienced massive destruction due to nuclear weapons, the fresh and vivid memory of 9/11 and Iraq war only reminds of us how thousands of innocent lives can be easily taken away due to people’s avarice for power. While we concede that weapons play an integral part in national defence, this clearly does not provide us with a satisfying explanation to the gigantic amount of nuclear weapons stored in superpowers, which, if used at one time, can ruin the world for a hundred times. “We live in a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants”, General Omar Bradley once declared, implying the huge gap between man’s development of science and ethos. This is the reason why despite the existence of the numerous peace agreements between countries, many people are still fearful of the outbreak of the third world war.
Science might allow us to have a greater control over the environment, yet we cannot control our innate selfish streak. Genetically modified food promised us to create an abundant world where global hunger is eradicated permanently. However, the truth of the matter is that we presently already have more than enough food to feed the world twice over without the technology of genetic engineering. According to the Economist, world poverty can simply be ended by pooling together the resources of the world’s seven richest men and redistributing it. On the other hand, GM crops could cause long term disturbance to our biodiversity and ecosystem due to their cross-pollination with natural plants. We sacrifice the environmental sustainability of our future generations, yet fail to solve the problem effectively even though we have always had the solutions in our hands as mentioned earlier.
We are over-dependent on the Internet, horrified by the potential hazards of nuclear power, and threatened by the environmental implications of genetic engineering. It is poignant to witness how we have become slaves to things we developed. Governments are setting rigorous laws and regulations to prevent the rampant and volatile development of science. Still, at the end of the day, if we are not able to control our own laziness, avarice and selfishness, we can never claim to be the master of science.