It seems like everytime science tries to advance there are the luddites screaming the sky is falling in.
I was reluctant to watch Fox's new show The Fringe because of the way they advertized it. A group of special agents to stop the evil scientists that are producing tissue regeneration, teleportation and other awful science. I called it the anti-Star Trek. In all of the Star Trek incarnations the science and technology advanced mankind (and alienkind) in the future and it was a good thing. It remains about the only part of Science Fiction that was positive instead of negative. The Fringe was interesting more about pitting 1960's idealized science against todays big corporation, greedy use of science. I was rather amuzed by one of the character's being Blair Brown when the special agents using the 60's scientist (released from a mental hospital) uses an old sensory deprivation tank right out of Altered States (which Blair Brown was in though in this show she's working for the big bad corporation)
It is still disconcerting that most Science Fiction is negative and one political party is able to get votes by leading the charge in denouncing science and fueling the general populations fear of it.
Technology is the practical application of science. Think of all the nice technological gadgets that we just can't live without anymore: cell phones, lap top computers, the internet, video games, planes, trains and automobiles, air conditioning, etc. None of them would be possible without the science that blazed the trail. How can a society so tied to technology be anti-science?
No comments:
Post a Comment