by In recent centuries, the eruption of science has technologically advanced the human race at an incredible pace. Innovations in healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, technology, and other sectors have given humans almost complete control of the world around them. However, with every discovery that gives us beneficial power, there are also creations that give humans the ability to destroy on a god-like scale. 20th Century French Biologist Jean Rostand lived through the most atrocious display of power the world had ever seen, World War II. Developments in warfare, including the atomic bomb, fully displayed the large magnitude of destruction that humans were capable of. Rostand highlighted the imbalance of technological advancement with the advancement of the human race’s strides for peace and harmony when he stated: “Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men” (Rostand). Despite having the power of Gods in their hands, humans have still failed to live with their fellow man peacefully.
In the mid 1940’s the world’s most disastrous conflict, World War II, was coming to an end. To prevent the war from raging on, the United States decided to develop and use two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two nuclear bombs decimated each city, with hundreds of thousands of citizens dead, injured, displaced, or feeling the radiative effects in the following decades. Shortly after these bombings, the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Russia ensued, leading to the development of more advanced nuclear warheads. For decades, the residents of every country in the world lived in fear of one country initiating a nuclear missile attack, which would cause the targeted country to send missiles of their own, thus leading to the mutual assured destruction of each country and the countries nearby. In 2020, the development of nuclear weapons seems to be an understandable action, but in the early 20th century, weapons with the potential to cause so much destruction were unimaginable. Surely these weapons had the ability to kill like an almighty God, but now they were in the hands of mere mortals. Thanks to science, man now has the ability to wipe each other out on an unbelievable scale, yet science has been unable to assist our race in becoming the species that we hope to embody.
A disastrous scenario clearly exists when man has the power of Gods to kill, but is unable to love their fellow man. For millennium, mankind has been fighting each other due to greed, hate, anger, and lack of understanding of cultural differences. Because of this, war, famine, and human suffering continues to exist to this day. If we are able to harness godlike power as a race, why are we unable to develop to harness peace? Rostand clearly shows his distaste with the level of technological advancement due to this simple standard. Our technological advances clearly outrank our advances as a peaceful species, which brings into question the justification of possessing weapons of mass destruction as a species that is so prone to violence.
Rostand’s quote shows his disdain of science’s improvements compared to the moral and ethical advances of man. Why must weapons be heavily funded and researched before methods of peaceful solutions are? Rostand believes that as a species, we are unfit to wield the power of a God without first striving to become a more peaceful, successful species. Because science has given us so many useful inventions throughout history, it is essential that we investigate more innovations. Yet it is important to realize that the power we have given ourselves has the potential to destroy that far outweighs our capacity for peace. Rostand shows that we must develop peace within the human race to gain the ability to wield the destructive powers that science has granted us.
Sources:
Mushroom Cloud- http://web.colby.edu/st112a-fall20/files/2020/08/download-1.jpg