There is an interesting power struggle between science, and society in this country. It seems that the real conflict is between science and religion, which tends to form the values to which a community will adhere to. Most of the struggles between science, and society have been over moral values, and the beliefs of science versus the beliefs of society, or religion. Take any major issue in this country, and you will see some sort of religious influence in the reasoning behind either supporting it, or not supporting the advances that we can make.
Stem cells were a huge issue in this country. George W. Bush, who believed that he was picked by God to be our leader, was influenced greatly by the church in his decision to ban the use of them. Despite the major advances, and potential cures that could be found due to stem cells, the fact that they came from embryos caused him to ban them. The battle between curing people who are alive, versus potentially killing unborn children was the huge battle.
There is a case right now of a 13 year old child who has cancer. His parents refuse to let him get chemotherapy for his cancer, and the boy doesn’t want to get it either. Despite the fact that doctors say there is a 90 percent chance of a cure, the parents won’t force him to get the therapy. Instead, the child is trying to cure his cancer with natural remedies, citing religious reasons why he won’t take the therapy for cancer. Again, religious views are stopping people from embracing a very reliable way to cure a disease.
Science and society would seemingly want to work together in order to advance our knowledge. However, it has been historically the opposite, with society either scared of science, or sometimes scared of the results. When science discovered that the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe, it scared a lot of people, and implied that God didn’t make us special. When new drugs come out, people might not buy them because of the side effects, and several pills have been retracted because of the potential to do more harm then good.
Science can be downright evil. The doctors and scientists that worked for the Nazi’s would do terrible experiments on people just to see how certain elements would work. It was experimentation for the sake of being mean. However, science can be a good thing too, and it helps us learn about all sorts of things. It helps us build rockets, conserve resources, and help advance the cause of man. If it wasn’t for science, there is a lot that we wouldn’t know.
System Of A Down wrote a song about the conflict between science and religion. It was called “Science”, and one of the key lyrics was “Science has failed the world/Spirit moves through all things.” Is this true? I don’t think so, I think that science is necessary, but it is interesting to see how science, and society don’t always mix.
