Today we watched an interview of astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson by Steven Colbert. The Interview was on Science theory, meanings and implications that science can have for us. A quote from this interview that struck me was something that Dr. Tyson said; "Don't blame the knowledge, blame the people in the presence of knowledge". I chose to write about this quote because it is a very interesting point of view. What I interpret it to mean is that: just because there is knowledge that can lead to harm or destruction, that harm or destruction only happens when humans use innocent knowledge to perform atrocities. This provokes many cycles of thought in me. It makes me think that no matter what the destructive potential of knowledge is, that potential is only shown when we make a desicion to expose it. Thus, knowledge is harmless until we act on it. There are many examples of this in history, including biological warfare. Many of the technologies used in bio warfare originated through medical research that was originally intended to help people. This is a prime example of how knowledge can be manipulated to fit separate agendas even when it's original intentions were good. So again, it all comes down to the decision we make on how we decide to use the knowledge that we come about. It's irrational to fear knowledge when the only reason it can do any harm is if people use it the wrong way. So instead of fearing knowledge we should fear how people use it.
MeHi I'm Garrett Archives
May 2015
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