Are We Advancing Ourselves Backwards?

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Most of us would be familiar with the phrase made famous in the Spiderman comics: "With great power comes great responsibility." In this day and age, humankind has literally made quantum leaps as far as technological advancement is concerned. Ever since the Renaissance and so-called Enlightenment, science has allowed us to take advantage of many of nature's secrets in order to produce wonders that would astound our ancestors, such as "iron birds that can fly," "horseless carriages that can outrun the fastest horses" or "magic picture frames that allow you to view scenes from half a world away."

To our forebears, such accomplishments would seem like magic, and if there is one area that science has had greatest effect, it's in the dispelling of many of the superstitions that ruled the lives of our ancestors. The scientific drive to question and to verify has led more and more people to throw off the yoke of blind obedience (a trait used in full by the Catholic Church to control the masses). Science has given us so much that atheists frequently raise the banner of science as the answer that would finally dispel the ignorance and suffering caused by religion.

Of course, they do have a point because religious fanaticism is simply wrong. But is science alone the answer, or will we be exchanging one form of extremism for another? Consider this. If science alone is the answer, isn't it strange that despite all our so-called advancements, never in our recorded history has humanity been so close to annihilating itself? If the existence of thousands of nuclear warheads around the world is not enough, consider other technological "advancements" that are doing us harm in the long run such as GMOs, the heavy use of toxic chemicals in the food processing industry, the harmful effects of electro-magnetic frequencies (EMFs) prevalent in many household devices or the grip of pharmaceutical companies on general healthcare, to name only a few.

The Institute for the Future of Humanity, based in Oxford University, has recently come out with a paper called Existential Risk as Global Priority (click on the link for the PDF copy). In the paper, Institute Director Nick Bostrom and his team argue that paradoxically, the present rate and use of scientific advancement has brought humanity closer to the brink of extinction. Something is definitely missing if we have reached this point.

A concrete example that hits close to home on this one is what social activists call the Monsanto Protection Act. This measure is a rider to Farmer Assurance Provision, Sec. 735 and what it does is that it prevents US federal courts from stopping the planting of Monsanto GMO seeds. This Monsanto Protection Act is most likely a reaction to a 2010 case where a federal judge revoked the rights of Monsanto to plant GMO sugar beets. Try to imagine how Monsanto managed to sneak this bill through the US Congress, all the way to President Obama who signed it into law last April. If there was ever an example of a moral compass gone awry, this would be it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that science is wrong. In fact, I'm a geek and I was totally blown away by the article that detailed the 27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts in 2012. However, if we look at the world in general, what we are seeing is a general trend from a world that was ruled by religious extremism to one where generally, the overly critical scientific mindset has lost all sense of the sacred. What I'm saying is that both science and spirituality are needed, a scientific drive to inquire and to verify, tempered by the moral obligation to use any discoveries only for the benefit and welfare of others.

A few days ago I watched this YouTube video of a homeschooled then-11-year old giving a TED talk. He basically sums up the current situation nicely and gives sound advice on how we, as individuals, can help to turn things around:



We have a left brain (analytical side) and right brain (intuitive side) for a reason. It is the physical expression of yin and yang, an example of the Law of Polarity made real. Totally giving up one for the other will lead to psychological imbalance. Just as we need both legs in order to run, we need both aspects of critical thinking and intuitive wisdom to make sure that the future we create will be a sustainable one.