The Proper Use of Science is Not to Conquer Nature But to Live In It.
What if I tell you, if we never knew the science behind creating a bomb, we would have never been able to generate clean electricity at a mass scale? What if I tell you, if we never knew the physics behind an arrow, we would have never been able to construct a rocket?
Science is power, power to make the world more beautiful or to destroy it completely. And it is the proper use of this power to learn to live in harmony with nature. Now let’s go back to the example I gave in the beginning that nuclear energy is used to create a bomb that can drape masses in Darkness, that same energy can be used to generate electricity which can illuminate thousands of homes. The science behind both the ideas is the same, but it is the way of utilization that has made all the difference.
Some students at MIT have invented a glowing plant by extracting an enzyme from a firefly and their idea is to replace the streetlights with glowing trees. Now my questions are-
Rather than thinking of changing the nature of the plants why can’t we learn to save electricity using AI technology without disturbing nature? Similarly, rather than thinking of changing the direction of wind why can’t we learn to blow with it? Rather than thinking of changing the current of water why can’t we learn to flow with it? Rather than thinking of conquering the nature why can’t we learn to grow with it?
And let me remind you, from the dawn of Humanity, we have been a part of nature and the tenet of our pervasive influence on nature or I should say the concept of taming nature is the mere overvaluation of our potential for achieving the absolute Anthropocene, and I wonder to what extent we overestimate our power and underestimate that of nature. Instead of dreaming to conquer nature, what about using science to learn about human impulses and try to conquer one’s own ignorance, ego and pride and actually learn to live in nature. I would like to conclude by saying we must look at nature as not something to fear or to triumph over, but instead as an ally in solving some of the greatest challenges of our time. This is how we will be able to serve justice to the true purpose of the greatest invention of power, the Science.
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