I heard this comment the other day in response to reading the book "Prey" by Michael Crichton. -- "That is why I think there should be no discoveries by mankind. All of them lead to nothing but bad things !!"
Uh-oh, I thought ... here we go again. You see this is the third time I have come across this same comment [ from different people ].... and every time I wonder if the person who says this does not understand what exactly he/she is disclosing.
The conversation excerpt -
V : So all discoveries/inventions are bad ?
O : Yes all of them .. just consider Atom Bomb - they tried to discover something and that killed many people in Japan.
Dynamite -this was supposedly for mining but was used in landmines instead ( this I do not know and have not googled it). Vaccination has lead to biological warfare !!! [ The research into germs is the cause it seems ]. It is the curiosity of humanity that causes problems all the time.
V : [ A sweeping statement so I started with just one e.g. ] But what about the fact that nuclear reactors give power ?
O : Why do we need power ? We should go back to the age of candlelight and kerosene lamps.
V : Vaccination has lead to so many children being saved from crippling diseases. That is not important ?
O : Do you see the problems the world is facing due to a burgeoning population ?
V : If you say all discoveries/inventions are bad - then going back to the very beginning - there should be no fire - so no cooking and hence no farming. In fact there should be no evolution at all ! But nature changes all the time ; plants and animals adapt which can be called change or discovering a new better method of survival or evolution.
O : [ After an uncomfortable silence ] Ofcourse I don't mean that - we should go back to the previous generation where people were happier and things were simpler; when humans did not cause so much destruction !!
V : [ Aha ! I did not continue after hearing that statement. I would have been persona non-grata if I had said what I thought. :) I mean history has always been about bloodshed ... so humans not causing destruction is a non-argument ]
I think the person(s) did not realize the new changes that life wrought were frightening or discomfiting to him/her and hence the nostalgic and vehement wish to go back. How often do we hear this ?
" Internet is the worst thing that could happen to kids" [ previously it was TV .. before that ? No idea ... !! :) ].
And even then it is a kind of prejudice when you think that any generation is the best simply because it falls in one's comfort zone !! So would every generation like change to stop at their generation b'cos they think it is best .... !! :) And yet without change .. they never would have arrived at that point of time ... :)
Be it changes due to petroleum refining and need for electricity ( for kerosene ), factories ( for the candles and lamps ), the industrial revolution - which included many many discoveries and inventions, transportation, guns , guillotines .. all the way to the discovery of fire and the wheel..... In some way or another .. all changes are enmeshed and have brought us here .. for better or worse ...... :)))
Like many things .. the whole point seems to be missed - that Internet or TV or curiosity or discoveries/inventions - nothing is inherently evil by itself. It is the usage that causes all the trouble. And change is a juggernaut that cannot be stopped !! No matter how much we resist it !
I hope that .... I do not end up saying some years later ..... "The Internet was better than ...... " :)
