It was Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) who more than a century ago made
the observation
Poor man! First the priest came with his indistinct notions of
religion, or his cunning devices to establish and enforce his authority, and now
science with a false face steps in, to rob man of his dignity, to place him many
degrees below the dumb idol or among the beasts of the field, and to subject all
to iron, relentless, cold, dead, and unreasoning Fate, casualty, dead
mechanism.
Valid statement then, I believe, but even more to the point in our
time.
As science began to replace the mythological framework of humanity's view
of the universe, the snowball once small rolled downhill ever faster and took on
more and more snow until it has become so large it threatens to roll over all of
us, crushing us out of existence.
We have attempted to gain dominion over the earth (and have made inroads
into the heavens). We have replaced the gods with ourselves. In a day that has
witnessed the power, terror, and danger of nuclear energy, that is witnessing an
increasingly hard to deny and ignore human-caused environmental crisis, it is
hard for me to think we have improved on the gods of old.
What is perhaps worse is what Wise referred to in the quote above. Science
is increasingly replacing the spiritual dimension of humankind. We have been
reduced to meat machines, and it is no wonder that such a view brings with it a
certain pessimism and nihilism that strips away the dignity we have come to
cloak ourselves in over the long centuries of our civilization.
I read an article the other day by
psychologist Nigel Barber speculating that within another quarter century or so,
religion will finally have been replaced with atheism. If I live to be as old as
my mom is today I will likely see that take place if the prediction holds true.
Of course, the death of God and fall of religion have been predicted before only
to be eclipsed by a resurgence. But suppose Barber is right. Will an atheist
worldview bring us a better, more peaceful, more gentle world? Can science alone
bring us closer to utopia?
I personally have my doubts. And the many dystopian works of popular
science fiction writers and thinkers could become prophetic. In which case I
will be glad to be gone or at least at the end of my journey.
2 comments:
Destiny - An Ode to Technical Progress
In blithe ignorance
the computer leads
us, the faithful, into tomorrow’s world.
And knowing not
of tears and hope and love -
of human values, human miseries,
it sits upon the bridge
of our brave world and spits
the data that the helmsmen put to use.
“The blind will lead the blind” -
but if they know
not of the frightful blindness,
are deceived
by crass assurances:
if they have faith and follow trustingly,
whither do they go, to what mute goal
of Utopia?
@ Exrelaymn,
My friend, I marvel at the way you always seem to have a poem at the ready for my posts. And I really enjoy them, too.
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