Doors Close, Windows Open

Contrasts

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, April 22, 1800

We walked out of class quietly, brains whirring as they processed today's discussion.  I'd studied Jung back in college the first time, but had forgotten much of his teachings.

"What do y'all think," Derrick asked, "Should scientists be held responsible for their ideas and inventions, especially if those ideas are used to harm others?"  He must have been pondering this question since Dr. Soren shelved it earlier in class.

"I don't know," I said, "I mean, Einstein basically stumbled upon a basic truth that exists in nature.  If he hadn't, someone else would have, eventually.  That others would take his idea and make it usable for destructive purposes rests on their shoulders, not Einstein's.  We now use nuclear energy as a power source.  That's a positive outcome of these findings."

"What about scientists conducting DNA research?"  Derrick went on, "They want to clone and potentially alter humans.  Why should that kind of research be funded?"

"Derrick's right," Sharon voiced as we lined up behind the soda machine.  "I think it's immoral for scientists to play God with human genetics. After all..."

"Really?" asked Saul as he retracted a red and silver can from the machine.  "Do you think it's immoral when you get a shot of penicillin to ward off infection or when cancer patients are given chemotherapy to slow down the spread of deadly fast growing cells?  Are you saying that using man-made and scientifically derived innovation is wrongfully playing God, even when it improves the quality of our lives?"

"Of course not.  I'm just saying..." Sharon started but was abruptly interrupted by Saul.

"You're just saying that somehow the general mass morality knows best what is ethical in terms of research.  Who's to say?  Louis Pasteur was considered daft by many when he postulated the existence of germs.  Now, we take it for granted that their microbial agents invade our immune systems leading to colds and flues.  So much of what we take for granted today has evolved through trial and error, and the visions of scientists who understood or saw something the masses did not.  Sometimes, science advances because of a challenge to ideologies in a current time or religion."

"He's right," I added.  "It was considered heresy back in Galileo's time to suggest that the earth was round.  It was blasphemy against the Church, and God, since religious doctrine in that time asserted that all planets and the sun revolved around the earth.  In every era there's some ideology that is threatened by advances in science but will eventually be accepted as fact in later generations."

"Your point?" asked Sharon, sounding defensive. 

Saul jumped in before I could answer, "Thanks Mandy, I can take it from here."  Saul had intriguing ideas but crappy social skills. I smiled at his brash, assured tone.  I missed the days when I had all the answers, as Saul did today.

"The point, Sharon, is that in every era, there are advances in science and in thinking that threaten the conventional, religious, or social norms.  People seek to suppress these advances, fearing some great evil arising from these discoveries.  Exactly the point Abbott was making with Flatland.  Einstein could not have predicted that his ideas would be used for mass destruction.  We might have concerns about cloning because we believe reproduction to be the divine right of God, but what if cloning research leads to some yet-to-be discovered cure for one of our currently incurable diseases?"

"And what if it leads to the production of semi-human automatons, killing machines, used to destroy mankind?" Sharon snapped back as she hastily grabbed an orange colored can from the machine.

"That might happen with advances in robotics and artificial intelligence, but not cloning," Saul answered, shaking his head.

"I agree with Sharon," Derrick said.  "Saul, you just said we don't know what human cloning will lead to.  Maybe cures, maybe alterations to humans that were never intended.  There is right and wrong, no matter how some people might try and paint away good and evil in shades of gray."

I took advantage of the pause to throw in my two cents, "Seems to me that in every era, there are advances that portent gloom and doom to the masses but history later judges to be an important advancement.  Test tube babies were a big deal back in my youth.  Now, thousands of families have been created thanks to in-vitro fertilization.  Life created outside of the womb, not in the prototypical way.  Are these children less because their conception occurred in a lab rather than a uterus?"

"I don't know. I have mixed feelings about that," Sharon answered.  "I understand wanting to have a family, but why create life in the lab when there are so many children out there in need of homes?"

"Not every person or couple fits neatly into the buckets adoption agencies are looking for," I answered, with more edge to my voice than I intended. "It's not like going to the animal shelter to rescue a dog or cat.  The adoption process is long, hard, and often heartbreaking.  Some people want children but can't get there through ... conventional means.  Even if they want to adopt, they don't fit neatly into the profile adoption agencies are looking for.  I've known a few successes with adoption, but also heartbreak.  A friend of mine in Chicago took in a foster child when he was two, and started the adoption process soon after.  She rescued him from an abusive, drug-infested home.  A year or so later, the state returns him to his biological parents, saying they had gotten their lives together.  She still grieves that loss."

"Yeah, okay.  I get what you're saying.  Still..." Sharon said.

Sensing the tension, Adam jumped in and changed the topic.  "Back to Bohrs, Einstein, and the atomic bomb.  Its amazing to me how something that starts of neutral, like a mathematical or physics theorem initially later led to tragedy but then generated a clear advancement in the quality of life.  Like Amanda said, much of our electrical power is generated from nuclear energy, which reduces our dependence on coal and gas.  Less carbon footprint.  That's good, right?"  We all nodded and Adam continued,

"Who knows where cloning and stem cell research will lead?"

"It's debatable, I guess," said Derrick as we headed up the steps to our classroom.