Sunday, March 13, 2016

Curiosity killed the... human?

In “A Measure of Restraint,” Chet Raymo warns humans about the danger of scientific discovery. He reveals that even though these dangers are evident, curiosity still powers our drive to explore. This connects to Don DeLillo’s piece, “The Videotape,” as he explores our natural curiosity to view gruesome violence or death. Both these pieces reveal the human tendency to examine subject matter that is not healthy for our mental or physical state- but we continue to anyway. However, Raymo uses both radium and a tobacco plant to thus prove his claim. His reference to the tobacco plant also reveals that even when humans are aware of the terrible consequences - cancer, addiction, or death - they continue to not only test, but use. Thus, science takes over again. The race to yet another cure- radiation, chemotherapy, and new surgeries- continues. Therefore, his reference to the tobacco plant reveals the seemingly incurable cycle of scientific discovery. While reading this piece I couldn’t help but to wonder if our initial discovery to examine our environment never occurred- would the world better be a better place? Are current scientists creating new diseases that future generations will have to cure? It is hard to try to weigh out all the possible positives and negatives of science exploration- considering the significant strides we are making every day. It’s just a matter of whether the science we are creating today will have bigger consequences for the future.

Tobacco Plant

1 comment:

  1. Nice Post! It's true that knowledge and experiments are not always best for the future and can cause more harm than good.

    ReplyDelete