Science and the double edged sword of reason

“Science is the tool of the Western mind and with it more doors can be opened than with bare hands. It is part and parcel of our knowledge and obscures our insight only when it holds that the understanding given by it is the only kind there is.”
Carl Jung

I must confess to feeling extremely ambivalent about science; on one level it has contributed immensely to humankind, almost everything man made has been touched by the hand of science but on a more systemic level it has also been responsible for the global population explosion, over exploitation of natural resources and perhaps most damagingly a sense that we can control life itself. If we look at medical sciences alone, global life expectancy is two to three times longer thanks to the scientific revolution which at the level of the individual is seen as a good thing but without a compensatory reduction in birth rates, at a global level this is far from desirable.

At the root of the issue with modern science lies the reductionist principal which implies that everything can be understood by breaking it down into its constituent parts. This has led to a fragmentation and narrowing of the scientific field, into numerous focused disciplines each striving to make progress within its own field, without sufficient reference to the wider whole. An example of how this approach can be questioned would be the development of fertility treatments, on one level we are assisting an individual in propagating their genes but on another we are actually defeating the natural selection mechanisms which would seek to eliminate the underlying genetic defect from the human gene pool. The context in which we are developing this science is not only a world of over population but one in which there are numerous orphan children around the world who need loving parents and a home. This is just one example of where scientific reason can actually become irrational.

Science, in and of itself, is a search for understanding and as such is a very laudable pursuit. I suppose the true issues arise in the application of that knowledge. One cannot question a scientist for exploring things, assuming it is done ethically, but the scientist who develops its application must be held accountable. I believe it is should be incumbent upon every applied scientist to consider the wider implications and uses of their work.

Perhaps the most dangerous yet intangible aspect of science is the impact it has had on how we humans relate to and see ourselves in, the world at large. We have conquered every physical domain, we have the ability to control almost every disease and we have developed technologies which increasingly make us feel independent of the natural processes around us but truth be told, we have done nothing but delude ourselves, everything man has done scientifically in the last 300 years has set us apart from and made us feel immune to the natural order of things. Well, the time of reckoning is upon us and we are about to reap the whirlwind, the wholeness of nature is far greater than one species alone, particularly one who is arrogant enough to assume that it might actually control it. Everything we have done has had a consequence, it just that there has been a latency in response, but a response there will be and it will not be a positive one. Now more than ever we need scientists to turn their attention to the bigger picture, to collaborate across disciplines as never before and to convince the rest of us with a lesser understanding of such matters, of what we must do to minimise the human suffering that awaits us and to take the necessary steps to re-align ourselves with the natural order of things. We no longer need scientists to develop technologies and cures, we need their counsel and guidance as to how to live our lives, science was born out of philosophy and therein lies its true application and calling.