In the end it is science that will exterminate the human race
In the end it is science that will exterminate the human race
In the end it is science that will exterminate the human race
In his book Gryll Grange, English poet and writer Thomas love peacock stated in one of the pages that in his own view science will eventually wipe out the whole human race. Although the book was originally published in 1896 long before the two world wars, global warming, modern day diseases and other calamities brought forth by advancements in science, peacock appeared to be way ahead of others in correctly predicting the future of the human race. Science has succeeded in making life comfortable and worth living but at the same time it is slowly contributing to the extinction of the human race. This essay will evaluate how scientific advancements have and will lead to the eventual extermination of the human race.
Almost all the aspects of the human life today have been influenced by science in one way or another. The food we eat the clothes we wear, the houses we live in and how we think and even our social lives are influenced by science. Imagine if there was nothing like the internet or the telephone for that matter, most of us would not have been born or would have been born as other people because our parents would probably have never met and if they met and if they did they might have used the phone to communicate.
Scientific inventions are numerous and cannot be counted but there are some which have been remarkably beneficial to man. For instance fossil oil which and hydrochloric acid which are used in almost all that we do and the gadgets we use. Infact, oil drilling- invented by Edwin Drake has been listed in the top a hundred greatest inventions of all time (Haven 135). Oil is used for many purposes for instance generating electricity, manufacturing industry, transport, communication, processing of food, road construction, and purification of water and virtually all the aspects of the human life.
With all these positive improvements to our life because of science, it appears that the salvation and the period that man will stay on this earth will lengthen. The bitter truth is man will not occupy this world forever (Burroughs 153). Burroughs further adds that the end of man shall be orchestrated by the conditions that he has brought to the world through science (153). Take for instance the two world wars were as a result of arms race killed thousands of people and brought a lot of destruction to cities and countries like Japan. One of the Japanese cities, Hiroshima was destroyed by just one atomic bomb. On would ask if there were no arms in the first place could there have been a war that incorporated the whole world? that was more than sixty years ago so what would happen if another war breaks in future with all the advancements in military ware is beyond mans thinking.
Not so long ago, dinosaurs used to roam the earth freely but they became extinct because they could not adapt to the changing environment and could not survive without swamps. Today man is faced with a similar problem although of his own making (Russell, Bone 10). Just as dinosaurs perished as they could not adapt man would perish because he simply cannot adapt to changes brought about by his own developments in science. The changes that man is making to the environment are depleting the ecology at a first rate. For instance emission of carbon into the atmosphere from industries, transport industries and anything that burns fossil fuel is depleting the oxygen resources of the earth while trapping carbon dioxide. The worst part is that trees which should replenish the oxygen are also being felled at a first rate and with time there would be no oxygen leading to a complete wipe out of all the life on earth.
Although the advent of computers transformed the lives of humans greatly it has also been predicted that these computers will lead to the extinction of man in the near future. Although made by man, computers can process information and perform tasks that the brain of a man cannot do on its own and with that high speed. It has been predicted that in the future scientists will develop computers with super abilities like feelings and memories (Milne 173). Milne further argues that the greatest fear is that they would become very complex uncontrollable as they can do things on their own and might wipe out the human race if they saw it as a threat to their existence (174). These thinking machines would have also disrupted the process of evolution because human things are as a results of millions of years of natural transformation but they would have e evolved in a matter of years and surpassed the capabilities of man (174).
Development in medicine has helped human beings to survive various diseases but the truth is most of these diseases are made by humans themselves. Take cancer for example which is mostly a lifestyle disease caused by unhealthy living. That's not all other disease epidemics have been caused by mutations of the causing organisms which is because of scientific advancements. There is also a great fear that all these advancements in medicine as much as they are helping humans they weaken the immunity. The fear is that in the long run the immunity of man would become so low that if a plague hits the world the whole human race would be wiped out (Scott 15).
It is true to say that life would not be the same without science but even without science man used to live peacefully as he had natural ways of living. Even without these modern communication systems who says we never used to communicate? Some of these diseases that science claims to cure have been transformed through it and even exported to other parts of the world. It now appears that the whole human race would be wiped out in a matter of years.
Vincent Achuka,vinachuka@gmail.com
READING LIST
Scott Philip A. the medical research novel in English in German: 1900-1950.bowling green state: USA, 1992
Kendall haven F. 100 greatest scientific inventions of all time. Libraries unlimited: Westport, 2006
Milne Anthony. Doomsday: the science of catastrophic events. Praeger: Westport, 2000.
Bertrand Russell, Bone Andrew G. Dtente or destruction. Routledge: new York, 2005
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