I came across an interesting observation on a political page yesterday. The commenter asked why it seemed that the people most certain that the science of global warming was settled and irrefutable were oftentimes vocally anti-vaccine and anti-GMO. At first blush, it seems odd and dissonant that people who supposedly prioritize science in one area close their eyes to the science that has quite strongly validated the safety and efficacy of vaccines and genetically modified crops.
There is, however a commonality and a consistency therein. All three stances are rooted in a suspicion of human scientific and technological achievement. In other words, all three are anti-progress.
Throughout human history, sages, solons and wise men have warned the masses against hubris, against pride, against pleasure and against ease. Privation, asceticism, taking the harder path and the like are and have been core principles of many religions and philosophies. We are taught to feel guilty if we indulge in excess, when we take some time to be lazy, or when we don’t deprive ourselves of some temporal pleasure. Should we be surprised, then, if those teachings sow seeds of distrust in the human advances that make our lives easier and better? Is it hard to comprehend that stories about how smartphones are bad for us gain such quick traction while evidence to the contrary is looked at askance? How one doctor’s self-promoting lies about vaccines and autism can continue to proliferate, despite absolute refutation and a mountain of science to the contrary? How doom-and-gloom warnings about how human carbon emissions are wrecking the planet proliferate despite failed prediction after failed prediction? How people distrust fruits, vegetables and grains that have been improved by scientific research?
Pop culture is awash in stories about how human “overreach” ruins things. Agent Smith in the Matrix movies referred to humans as a virus. Wikipedia lists over 200 apocalyptic movies produced since WWII. Zombie movies like the Resident Evil series are rooted in technology gone wrong. The Terminator movies and the Battlestar Galactica series (both of them) were based on technology turning on humanity. The second series spoiler alert ended with the remains of humanity giving up technology in order to live simply and with a ‘fresh start’ on a new planet. In the Johnny Depp movie Transcendence, the technological singularity is finally achieved when the main character loads his mind into a computer. Predictably, bad things happen. Jason Bourne was made stronger, faster and smarter, but made so only as a pawn for nefarious purposes.
Malthusian theories of overpopulation followed by widespread famine and poverty continue to be espoused, despite centuries of failing to materialize. It’s treated as a given that we’re going to overpopulate the planet and suffer massive die-offs. Peak oil alarms have been ringing for at least 3 decades. Fracking is obviously poisoning our water, no evidence necessary. GMO “frankenfoods” are poisoning us in mysterious and unknown ways. Nuclear power plants are creating three eyed fish, again, no evidence necessary. Cell phone radiation is going to give us all cancer, and studies to the contrary are undoubtedly corrupted by corporate criminals. Conspiracy theorists tell us that every new disease is either technology gone wrong or science used for sinister intent, that fluoride in the water is a government plot to poison and control us, and that condensation trails produced by commercial airliners are secretly loaded with chemicals or biological agents for purposes unknown but nefarious.
People love to hate technological progress, even as they draw benefit from it every single moment of their lives. There’s a baseless embrace of all things “natural” and a reflexive distrust of anything “artificial,” even though Nature is just chock full of things that will sicken or kill us and many of those “artificial” things are what protect or rescue us from sickness or death. “Organic” has become a powerful marketing label, no matter that its meaning varies from person to person. News sites love anti-tech stories, such as the Huffington Post running 12 Super Successful People Who Shun Technology, or a seemingly endless run of Drudge Report links to experts warning us about the rise of the machines.
When considered in this light, believing in anthropogenic global warming while distrusting vaccines and genetically modified foods is perfectly consistent. All three represent humanity’s just deserts for daring to defy Nature in pursuit of better and easier lives. It’s idiocy, of course. There’s nothing inherently better about natural things, and the concept of Mother Nature is just an exercise in anthropomorphizing. There is no Mother Earth, there is no Gaia, the planet is not some sentient organism that suffers from humanity’s pursuit of betterment, and it doesn’t care what is done to it. We matter, and being prudent with resources, with wild spaces and with pollution demonstrates a respect for fellow humans and for the future of humanity, but we exercise such prudence for the sake of ourselves, not for the sake of the rock we exist on. The Earth will be around long, long, long after humanity has vanished from its surface.
Science and technology may get things wrong from time to time, but history makes it amply clear that progress is a good thing, that it confers benefits to humanity, that every generation takes for granted things that the previous generation considered luxuries or couldn’t even conceptualize, and that we should embrace science, technology and progress, not just for ourselves but for all our fellow humans. Human innovation makes our lives easier, happier, safer, healthier and more productive. It should be embraced, lauded and viewed with joy and wonder.
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