Blog Post #8; Scientific Progress

When considering Oppenheimer, and Frankenstein's work, I begin to question the responsibility of scientists. I think that though they are creating in advancements in several fields of study as well as technology, there needs to be a level of responsibility added to their outcome that would prevent them from creating harmful and irreversible outcomes. With the case of Oppenheimer, his creation of the atomic bomb brought about the Cold War, and there is no doubt involved in that. Should he have not created the atomic bomb, there would be no option for mass destruction in that route that he created. It is hard to say whether or not we would have wars to the extremities that we do today, but it is definitely in part his doing that we have the possibility of causing mass destruction. The other issue lies in the unforeseen consequences that even the scientist his or herself could not have predicted. If this is so, it is difficult to apply any sort of responsibility on the scientist for he/she could not have determined that things would end this way. I'm sure that Oppenheimer did not presume that a war would be started, and that they would want to create atomic bombs at the rate they did after he created the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, this was so, and it is difficult to determine his role in the responsibility of it.

    
As well, when considering the techno-romanticism portion of this problem, it is often with unforeseen consequences that developers create new technology. Global issues like electronic waste dumps and lead poisoning caused by exposure to the toxins from these dumps are some of the unforeseen consequences of creating new technology. But how could the programmers and developers who create these products possibly be held accountable for the latter health problems? It is with the intention of advancing technology that create, and unless we coordinate down the same path of eco and health consciousness, we will be unable to reach an equilibrium where there is no consequence. Unlike Oppenheimer, Frankenstein's creation was one that horrified me most. I do not feel comfortable with the possibility that scientists can create beings with the ability to dominate humans. This goes back to the humans vs. robots debate and questions how comfortable I am with robots in the future.