I have decided to take a wee break from the story telling. Primarily because I am focusing on writing my book and wish to use the blog for a week or two as a way to flush out certain thoughts floating around the bowl of my mind. Hopefully they prove to be consumable to those of you reading them. I am well aware right now that the mixing of the previous two metaphors has had an unpleasant out come. Sorry.
On my mind of late has been the topic of science!
Let me begin by saying this. I am a boy, or man depending on who you ask, who has grown up watching such classics as Back To The Future (I love part III), Jurassic Park and Star Wars. So as you might imagine for a youngster watching films of this nature I had certain questions. I needed to know how exactly does one travel through time? Can you bring dinosaurs back to life using advanced cloning techniques? and would it some day be possible to make point five past light speed in a ship as beautifully ugly as the Millennium Falcon?
So growing up I delved. Finding every book then later every website that I could on such topics. Devouring all the knowledge I could set my eyes on. I would regale my sister, mother and any one else within ear shot with tails of scientific theories, possiblities and hopes. Science gave me what seemed to be all the answers a young man could possibly want or so I thought.
Even as far back as I can remember there was something amiss about it all. It did not escape my attention that Doc Brown and Marty McFly caused a lot of trouble to the space time continuum with that Delorean and that the only marvellous discovery most of the people in Jurassic Park ended up making was what exactly the T-Rex had eaten before them. It was the words of one particular character in that film that ended up staying with me as I grew up. When addressing the creator of Jurassic Park, Dr Malcolm (Played so well by Jeff Goldblum) says some thing along the lines of 'Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop and think if they should'.
As time went on I came to see just how right this one little line from that film was. I would stop and think about it when ever I saw new science applied in some way around the world. Cures, explorations, vaccines, newer faster computers the list went and still goes on. I would wonder whether these scientists ever stopped and asked themselves 'should I be doing this?' or 'what are the long term ramifications tied into what I am doing'.
Now before I say what I am about to let me point out this. As a boy I watched my Grandmother wither and die. The beautiful lady that she was turned yellow before the cancer in her liver finally claimed her life. So I say what I am about to say knowing what loss means to people. There are scientists out there right now busting their asses trying to develop cures for all the diseases plaguing mankind, but should they be?
As a race we seem to struggle to accept the time we are given like a petulant child always wanting more. Our worlds becoming more then just a little over crowded. 7 Billion people as it now stands which is close to double its size since my birth 27 years ago. Nature keeps on putting up various road blocks to stop us but we refuse to even slow down. Every thing in nature has its purpose and reason for being. Disease is a form of natural control. Yet instead of asking ourselves why these diseases exist we just go on looking for a way to beat them so as to extend our years. Buy ourselves a few more seconds on the clock.
However I digress because by far my biggest problem with science these days is mystery. Humans fear the unknown and rush to find answers to all things. It all must be explained to us. It is in this way that I feel like science is slowly killing the mystery and magic in life. We don't need these kind answers and the ones we do need we shall not find within the realms of chemistry and physics. The unknown is exciting. Excitement is the spice of life. No matter how hard science tries to explain life it will never find an answer befitting the questions in our souls. The universe was not meant to be scrutinised and studied but enjoyed. It is within us, that worth while study will be done.
In summing up I mentioned earlier that Back To The Future Part III is my favourite. This wasn't always the case though. Originally as a younger man it was the first two that appealed to me the most. I loved the Docs techno babble and Marty's desperation when trying to wrap his head around how many versions of himself were present in his current time frame. Who's heart didn't race as the Delorean hit 88 miles an hour and the light show began? But as I have gotten older, don't get me wrong they are all fantastic, Part III has become the one I cherish. Marty and the Doc in touch with nature in the Old West. Away from the technology, camping out and having to use simple low tech ideas to get themselves home. Not to mention Doc Brown, the avid man of science falling in love. Magic stuff.
In my opinion it is these things that are the keys to our survival on this fair planet. Getting back in touch with our roots so to speak and love in all its forms will be what saves us. I may sound like a clapped out old hippy and if so then so be it. These days I am convinced that just like the characters in Jurassic Park it is our pursuits in science that will be our downfall.
But what the hell do I know? I would trust any thing Jeff Goldblum told me. The guy looks like he knows a thing or two.
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