Yesterday, we talked about some of the surprising ways science has given us great new inventions: microwaves, antibiotics, x-rays, and more. But science also has given us atomic bombs, artificial intelligence, and cloning. So, is scientific progress a good thing or not?
Consider what Winston Churchill had to say in 1931:
“It would be much better to call a halt in material progress and discovery rather than to be mastered by our own apparatus and the forces which it directs. There are secrets too mysterious for man in his present state to know; secrets which once penetrated may be fatal to human happiness and glory. But the busy hands of the scientists are already fumbling with the keys of all the chambers hitherto forbidden to mankind. Without an equal growth of Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, Science herself may destroy all that makes human life majestic and tolerable. There never was a time when the inherent virtue of human beings required more strong and confident expression in daily life; there never was a time when the hope of immortality and the disdain of earthly power and achievement were more necessary for the safety of the children of men.”
That was almost 100 years ago. Thirty-two years later, in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
Make no mistake: The world needs men of science. But even more than that, the world needs scientists who are men of virtue.
Have a wonderful day.
