The Pros and Cons of Science

1799 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Negative effects of science and technology on society

Why am I so afraid of science? After all, was it not because of science that advancements in technology were made? Did it not create immunizations for once lethal diseases such as measles and polio? Although science does benefit our lives, it also provides detrimental and destructive results. The automobile was a break through invention, yet, it is also one of the main producers of pollution. Was it not a result of science that the atomic bomb was created thereby, destroying the lives of numerous beings? J. Michael Bishop and Pamela Samuelson demonstrate through their readings that science can be both beneficial and detrimental. In his article entitled "Enemies of Promise," J. Michael Bishop attempts to defend the creditability of science. As a scientist, Bishop believes that science has "solved many of nature's puzzles and greatly enlarged human knowledge" (237) as well as "vastly improved human welfare" (237). Despite these benefits, Bishop points out that some critics are skeptical and have generally mistrusted the field. Bishop believes that "the source of these dissatisfactions appears to be an exaggerated view of what science can do" (239). In the defense of science, Bishop argues that this problem is not due to science rather, it results from a lack of resources. "When scientists fail to meet unrealistic expectations, they are condemned by critics who do not recognize the limits of science" (240). Bishop argues that science is beneficial when it is understood. He explains that many critics blame science for the problems that exist in our world today, yet it is society that has ignored the warning signs that science has provided. Bishop demonstrates this point through his statement: Science has produced the vacci... ... middle of paper ... ...re needs to be some way in which the destruction and detriment is controlled. Through their readings, Michael J. Bishop and Pamela Samuelson discuss the positive and negative aspects of science. Science can benefit humans by providing them with solutions to improve their lives, such as immunizations and cellular phones. Yet, the same positive solutions can turn detrimental and destructive when science's warnings are not respected and understood. Works Cited Bishop, Michael J. "Enemies of Promise." The Presence of Others:Voices and Images that call for Response. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2000. 237-242. Samuelson, Pamela. "The Digital Rights War." The Presence of Others: Voices and Images that call for Response. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2000. 315-320.

Show More
Related

  • Blood Pressure and Heart Rate at Rest and During Exercise: What Are the Differences?

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Currently, it is not possible to prescribe isometric exercise at an intensity that corresponds to given heart rates or systolic blood pressures1. This might be useful in optimizing the effects of isometric exercise training1. According to further study on this topic, linear relationships that have been discovered could be used to identify isometric exercise training intensities that correspond to precise heart rates or systolic blood pressures. Training performed in this way might provide greater insight into the underlying mechanisms for the cardiovascular adaptations that are known to occur as a result2. Studies have also shown a direct, strong, independent and continuous relation between blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality without any evidence of a threshold down to at least 115/75 mm Hg3. Further, it has been demonstrated that, as compared with optimal BP, normal and high-normal BP are associated with a higher incidence of CV disease3.

    Read More

  • Cloning: Has Science Created A Frankenstein?

    1933 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... effect all humanity, and therefore, need to not think on an individual level. J. Michael Bishop states that "The price of science seems large but to reject science is to deny future."(261).

    Read More

  • All Black Everything: Analyzing African Influence throughout Puerto Rican Music

    1991 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marcus Garvey once said, “The Black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness,” exemplifying not only that the African blood that flows through our veins is indeed wonderful, but is more a national treasure than a national tragedy. Countries across the world, in some form have been altered by the touch of the African influence whether that is socially and/or culturally. The same fate lies with the islands of the Caribbean, especially the island of Puerto Rico located in the Greater Antilles. Of all the African influential branches, Puerto Rican music would be one social phenomenon to be ultimately shaped and modified by African influence directly. Beginning with the African slaves, this paper covers the musically genres created over time containing West African elements, as well as covering the ways in which the Puerto Rican society influenced the music as well as how the music effected the society. This paper will also include the ways in which African descendants in Puerto Rico [musicians] would rise to fame despite existing in an era of open racism. Ultimately, explaining how the music and the people go hand in hand.

    Read More

  • Xenotransplants - Animal to Human Organ Transplants

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    When asked how he feels about the advancement of science to places that were once notions to be the job of the creator, Dr. Martin Luther King replies by saying, “Cowardice asks is it safe? Expedience asks is it political? Vanity asks is it popular? But the conscience asks is it right?”

    Read More

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Cuban Missile Crisis was not only the tensest confrontation between these two nations; it was also the most controversial. There have been many different theories as to why the Soviet Union set up nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba in the first place. One theory suggests that Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, placed these weapons in Cuba because he felt endangered by the United States’ nuclear missiles in Turkey, which were a threat to the Soviet Union. Another theory proposes that Castro feared for another US invasion in Cuba, thus enlisting the help of their communist allies. Since the unsuccessful attack at the Bay of Pigs, Castro feared for another invasion, perhaps a more successful one of Cuba. But nonetheless, the Cuban Missile Crisis proves to be successful in which we avoided a nuclear war.

    Read More

  • The Cuban Missle Crisis

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Without the occurrence of the Cuban Missile Crisis we would may not be living in the world we are today. During the Cold War the Cuban Missile created a stalemate between the two major countries involved in the war, the Soviet Union and the United States. This event greatly known as a turning point in the it during the 1960's period of the infamous war, by being able to turn the tables and prevent a “hot” war to form out of one of the “coldest” wars in history. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an exceptionally significant event during the Cold War because of its ability to affect multitude of aspects between the two sides involved during the war.

    Read More

  • Culture and its Role in the Construction of Womens Body Image

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    At first glance, it appears that body image researchers have not just focused on the individual. Nearly every researcher in this field acknowledges the essential role that cultural norms for appearance play in the development of one’s body image. They have even gone as far as recognizing the gender differences in appearance norms in our culture. Men are held to a standard of a moderate, muscular built that generally matches the size and shape of the average man, but women are compared to a cultural ideal that has thinned beyond belief (Wolszon 545). The Miss America contestants have become so thin that most are fifteen percent below their recommended weight for their height, a sympt...

    Read More

  • The Odyssey by Homer

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Odysseus went through many misfortunate events; fighting in a ten year war, sleepless nights, fighting monsters, praying for his survival and most of all losing his concomitant shipmates. But, with all that said, would you genuinely call someone a hero with a pompous, cantankerous and inattentive personality? Odysseus is not an hero because of his lack of ability to keep his men alive, disloyalty to his wife by sleeping with other women and his acute pride and self-absorption which gets him in trouble on many occasions. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey tells a story about a man with ill-advised decisions which causes him to face many struggles. The word “hero” would not be fitting to Odysseus.

    Read More

  • The Consequences of Man's Ambition

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bishop, J. Michael. "Enemies of Promise." The Presence of Others:Voices that Call for Response. 2nd ed. Ed Andrea A. Lunsford and John J.Ruszkiewics. New York:St Martin's Press, 1997. 255-263.

    Read More

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.

    Read More

  • Science Helps, Anybody Out There? By Oliver Sacks

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

                Society seems to be divided between the idea if science is more harmful than helpful. We live in a world where humans depend on science and technology to improve important aspects of society, such as medical machinery, which supports the fact that science is more of a friend than a foe. Science is advancing every day. The United States has come a long way with its ongoing developments, giving individuals a chance to improve society as a whole. Not only does the United States benefit from such growth, but every modernized country does so as well. Through science and technology, individuals learn from past endeavors and apply it to present and future projects, paving the way for new discoveries and efficient enhancements

    Read More

  • An Analysis of J Michael Bishops Enemies Of Promise

    2411 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the most visible critics of science today, and the progenitor of the anti-science sentiment is the religious community, specifically the conservative Christians. One can hardly read the newspaper without reading of one religious figurehead or another preaching on the "fallacy of science," pushing their own brand of "truth" on whoever would hear them. As Bishop writes "It is discouraging to think than more than a century after the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species (1859), and seventy years after the Scopes trial dramatized the issue, the same battles must still be fought."(256) And the loudest rallying cries to these battles can be heard issuing from the throats of the ranks of zealots and their hordes of followers.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dr. Michael Shermer's The Moral Arc

    1967 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dr. Michael Shermer is a Professor, Founder of skeptic magazine, and a distinguished and brilliant American science writer to say the least. In His book The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People he sets out to embark on the daunting task of convincing and informing the reader on sciences’ ability to drives the expansion of humanity and the growth of the moral sphere. Although such a broad and general topic could be hard to explain, Shermer does so in a way that is concise, easy to understand, and refreshing for the reader. This novel is riddled with scientific facts, data, and pictures to back up shermers claims about the history of science, humanity and how the two interact with one another.

    Read More

  • What is science?

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    Science affects the world in many different ways. With the technologies that have been discovered we can now tell how warm or cold it will be for the next week, we will know when a tornado, hurricane, eruption or any other sorts of natural disasters will occur before they actually happen. This also helps out all communities. My family loves to travel, and if airplanes weren’t invented we wouldn’t be able to go to many places. We also need microwaves, stoves and ovens in order for us to eat supper, and fridges and freezers for us to keep our food in. We also enjoy watching television and movies, and I love talking on the telephone and listening to music. Without science none of these things would be possible.

    Read More

  • Science and Students: The World of Tomorrow

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    Right now science education plays a very significant role in the improvement of the medicinal field. Hundreds of thousands of educated doctors in the US are helping patients with anything from the flu to cancer. It is not just doctors though: science education is enlightening kids to be researchers, scientists, and more. If science was not taught, this world would be full of unanswered questions and wrong answers. Science is so amazing that if we didn’t pass down this knowledge of what we have gained, all our hard work would be for noth...

    Read More

More about The Pros and Cons of Science

Open Document