Science is indispensable, especially in today’s context. Science has evidently proven to be beneficial in terms of solving health problems, food shortage and its application has bestowed to the rapid enhancement in technology. Yet, it would be a myopic view and turning a blind eye to reality to gratuitously assume science brings no perils. Science can in fact attribute to the deterioration of human fundamental basic moral values as well as health risks and global warming. Nevertheless, in my view, science is a blessing rather than a curse as the benefits it has to outweigh the perils that may possibly be incurred.
Firstly, science has led to the development of medical advances that enable longer lifespan of human being and able to cure illness which was previously incurable. Coupled with the development and transportation technology, development in new vaccines has been able to tackle the salient problem of tuberculosis in Third world nations such as Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia due to their poor living conditions and improper sanitations. This problem has cost millions of deaths annually. The presence of new vaccines has mitigated the problems in these Third world countries. The overall lifespan of the people has increased greatly over the years as the number of tuberculosis-related death has reduced significantly. In addition, the development in medical sciences has allowed cardiac transplantation which was not possible in the past. The problem of a patient with end-stage heart failure does not mean that the patient cannot be cured anymore. Heart transplant is now possible with the advancement in medical sciences where death is not the only route for end-stage heart failure patient. With the absence of science, prolonging of life of individual and curing incurable illnesses would not have been possible.
However, some may argue that the development in science can cause health risk as well. Genetically Modified (GM) food has posed a number of dangers associated with the food itself. A recent study in Newcastle University has shown that the modification of food with scientific technique has caused the spread of antibiotic resistance. This makes people be more prone to illness which increases their health risks. Nonetheless, the fears of GM food have been nothing more than a media spin. The media has created a story about ‘Frankenfood’ which is deemed to be harmful. It is often claimed, for example, that those allergic to nut protein died upon eating soybeans beans to which nut DNA had been added. This is not possible because the problem was picked up during the testing of the food and it was not released into the market for consumption until it is proven safe. So the perils of science that can cause health problems due to GM food are merely a scare-monger by the media.
Secondly, the development of GM food is able to solve the problem of famine as the world population keeps increasing at an increasing rate. GM food can be produced, unlike traditional farming. It can be produced at a faster rate than that of normal farming and at a lower cost. Moreover, with the severe climate change such as drought that is happening nowadays, crops yield has reduced significantly in recent years. So, GM food can certainly able to feed the hunger in developing and even third world countries, thus solving the problem of food shortage around the globe.
Yet, naysayers may argue that GM food is too expensive to be consumed by third world countries as they are economically poor. This implies that the poor are not being advantaged by GM food by the fact that they could not afford it. But, these naysayers fail to realize that GM food has increased crops yield worldwide which causes a downward pressure on food price. Despite the poor cannot enjoy GM food directly, they are indirectly enjoying the lower price of food so as to feed their hunger in order to survive. So, science can certainly beneficial in one way or another.
Thirdly, some may argue that the development of human cloning due to science has allowed Man to play God. It is not merely intervention in the body’s natural processes, but the creation of a new and wholly unnatural process of asexual reproduction. Cloning is vastly not accepted by mostly the religious groups such as the Catholic and Muslim because they think Man should not intervene with God. They argue that cloning is thus corrupting Man’s fundamental moral values. But, this argument assumes that we know God’s intentions. Who is to say that it is not God’s will that we clone ourselves? In spite of the current high risk of cloning, if cloning were to be successfully implemented in the future, it can allow selective breeding which can be beneficial for society as a whole. Selective breeding, which is also known as Eugenics, allows ‘high quality’ people to be cloned such that they can contribute to society more in terms of their leaderships and economic contribution.
All in all, the benefits that science can bring about are certainly outweighing the costs, especially in the future as science continues to develop. However, one should be aware of the potential harms that science may cause. Hence, in my opinion, the government should be aware and help to prevent the potentially disastrous effects of science. If the perils of science were to be successfully contained all the time, it certainly brings more benefits to the individual, society as well as the world.
