DISADVANTAGES OF SCIENCE
Science has changed the face of the world. It has, of course, given many things that benefit man. But the evils that it has showered on man wash away the advantages. It has made man dependent on machines, calculators and computers. This physical and mental dependence has dwarfed man. A day may come when his physical and mental faculties may grow so weak that he may not be able to lift a bag or solve a simple equation. Then these gadgets would be his real masters and he would be a slave.
In the field of health services it has given us life saving drugs. But it has also given drugs like smack and heroin. Their addiction makes man incapable of doing anything. A drug addict waits for his death every moment. Drugs have given us longevity. A man even in bad health may drag on upto 80 or 90 with the help of drugs. But of what use his life is either to the society or to himself. He becomes a burden on his family. According to a World Health Organization report one third of the population of developed countries would be of old men very soon. It would be a great liability for the young and the state.
Nuclear energy created by Science has been much praised by the Scientists and the politicians. But Chernobyl blast in Russia has exploded the myth. The radioactivity i.e., the radiation after the blast affected the food grains, vegetables and fruits in many parts of Europe. Thousands of people died. Thousands are suffering from cancer and other evil diseases waiting for their death. Atom bombs created by Scientists were thrown on Hiroshima and Nagasaki decades back. The painful memory still lingers, and millions of people are still ill. Bombs, thousands of times stronger, are in the stocks of the so called developed countries. Thousands of them move round the mother earth in manmade satellites. If they explode in space the Ozone layer would be disturbed and the earth would suffer from direct radiation from the sun. Ozone layer is already depleting fast due to certain chemicals used in the working of gadgets in the cooling system and in the manufacture of plastic goods.
Science has made ammunitions that have become a child’s play. Long and short ranged missiles can now reduce cities thousands of miles away to ashes. LASER rays can kill all living objects – man, animals and plants on their route. Science has become a handmaid of the scheming politician who wants to rule the world or end it.
The greatest harm science has done is to the faith of man: God has become nonentity. Faith has been man’s last resort. In the modern jungle of mental activities where would a desperate man go? Having lost faith his intellectual activities lead him to suicide. A number of scientists meet this fate every year in India.
