SCIENCE – BOON OR BANE?

As I switch between the computer and the TV, thoroughly bored and pondering over the direction of my life and the meaning of life in general, when it strikes me that I wouldn’t even be in this predicament if some fool hadn’t got the idea of changing nature to suit himself instead of adapting himself to nature. This brings forth arguments and counter-arguments, and before I know it, I am drawn into a long debate with myself on whether science is a boon or a bane. Yes, I know. It’s a very old topic that has been completely chewed out by innumerous people over the years, but hey, atleast it helped me pass the time.

My first thought was that I wouldn’t have a phone or a computer if it were not for science, and needless to say, survival without these gadgets if nearly impossible. That definitely counts as a huge plus for science. But then it strikes me that maybe this is exactly what the problem is. We get so addicted to the little things that science brings to us that soon, we’d have a very hard time living without them, something that reminds me of the symbiote that turns Brock into Venom in the Spiderman series. Perhaps this is all a conspiracy, maybe some aliens gave us all these so that we’d slowly become dependant on them and finally, when they wish to invade us, they can just take away all of these gadgets, making as very vulnerable and fragile and thus, easy pickings. At this point, various conspiracy theories invade my mind and I spend nearly an hour to sort through them.

“But look at the number of lives science has saved. The life span of man has increased dramatically, and the number of diseases that can actually kill us slowly reducing in number. We no longer have to live in fear of being hunted by predators which are far superior to us physically. We’re at the top of the food chain, thanks to science” I argue, striving to close the argument once and for all. And it is true. Compared to the early days of human existence, we live in much better conditions, with much more safety and comfort. We don’t have to worry about nature’s changing moods. It doesn’t matter if it rains cats and dogs or if it’s scorchingly hot. We can always adjust the thermostat to suit our comforts and let nature storm and rage outside. So science has changed the world for the better, atleast from the perspective of man.

But what about that “ultimate aim” in life that everyone talks about? What does a regular human being really want? If being happy is the right answer, then how does one go about achieving it? By becoming rich? Or achieving fame? Or is it all about power? And how do we know if we’re truly happy? In our pursuit of happiness, it is common that we often lose our way. Most people cannot answer definitively when they are asked whether they are happy. Children are made to imbibe inhuman quantities of knowledge in order to help their journey towards this “happiness”. After education, it’s work. The general idea is that the more pieces of paper we earn, the happier we can be. But no, there’s more to it. Having these bits of paper is not enough. We need to spend them wisely, knowing what to exchange them for and how much it is worth. And then we have to calculate how much to pay the people who run the society in exchange for a safe life. And yet, there are those poor souls who are not by any means, happy. Does life have to be so complicated? In the beginning, happiness meant a full tummy. For that, the people had to go out and kill something or collect fruits from trees. A much more straightforward process than that we follow today, where we need to study for a minimum of fourteen years, more if we want to be less hungry and then work for atleast eight hours a day in order to earn money and then use this money to buy food. Was life so bad in the wild? When I see pictures of tribals, I see genuine happiness in their eyes. Sure, they have all kinds of problems like diseases and lack of food and water, but what they have that we don’t is the exact idea of what they want and how to get it. And to top it all off, they live in harmony with nature, whereas we share a relationship with our Mother which is not different from a parasitic one.

It was that last argument tipped the scales towards the “bane” side. If someone asks me now whether I would prefer to live in the wild among nature, my reply would be something like “Of course, not. Are you crazy?”, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking maybe life was better back then after all, inspite of all the obstacles and difficulties.