Science Is Bad: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:28157_89528157 895.jpg|link=Cracked.com|thumb|400px]]
{{quote|''"Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends! Well, I say there are some things we don't '''want''' to know! Important things!"''|'''Ned Flanders''', ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}
|'''Ned Flanders''', ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}
 
Writers are not scientists.<ref>Well, [[Isaac Asimov|not usually.]]</ref> Whether it is because they perceive science as cold and emotionless, or because they just disliked science and embraced literature [[Writers Cannot Do Math|after failing math in high school]], [[wikipedia:Luddite|luddism]] is an [[Ludd Was Right|awfully common philosophy]] in the arts community. The [[Harmony Versus Discipline|typical theme]] is that some sort of advanced scientific research has [[Gone Horribly Wrong]], [[Turned Against Their Masters|creating a monster]], causing an [[Apocalypse How|impending]] [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|natural]] [[Disaster Movie|disaster]] and/or a [[Government Conspiracy|massive government cover-up]]. The heroes typically discover the [[Psycho Serum|side-effects]] of the research and investigate, discover what's going on, and try to stop it.
 
The antagonist (almost always either [[Mega Corp|corporate]] or military/government scientists -- andscientists—and [[Beauty Equals Goodness|not]] [[Hot Scientist|hot]]) [[They Called Me Mad|refuses to believe]] that his work could be so badly [[Scale of Scientific Sins|flawed and/or immoral]], or simply doesn't care about [[ReluctantEngineer MadExploited ScientistFor Evil|who gets hurt by it]], insisting that the research is ''[[For Science!]]!'' They will generally use their influence with the government to make life difficult for the heroes; this can include trying to have them arrested and/or [[Murder Is the Best Solution|otherwise]] [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|silenced]], often leading to a shoot-out, jail break, or [[Chase Scene]].
 
In the end, the scientist will be [[Karmic Death|destroyed by his own creation]], the heroes will be proven right, and through their efforts the world will be saved from the horror of science. Sometimes the theme is softened by the presence of [[The Professor]] among the heroes who represents a more reasonable take on the science involved.
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This can often come off as a bit hypocritical, particularly when dealing with speculative fiction, as you get an [[Anvilicious]] message of [[Fantastic Aesop|"everything we have so far is good, but we should stop now."]]
 
Nearly every [[Robot War]] story is based off of this (except the ones where everything was all right, until humanity [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|screwed it up by being jerks]] to the nice robots). There are a few popular current fields as well, like [[Cloning Blues|cloning]], [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetic engineering]], and [[Sinister Surveillance|surveillance]].
 
For obvious reasons, this is played down in series starring a [[Science Hero]], heroic android, or [[Robot Buddy]], such as in some anime. It's more likely that there will be a (still obvious) distinction between good and bad scientists. This is usually played up if the heroes are [[Phlebotinum Rebel|Phlebotinum Rebels]]s, though.
 
Note that not every work with a [[Mad Scientist]] or a threat borne of science falls under this; it's only the case where [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|Messing With Things You Ought Not To]] is blamed for the problems.
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If the writer is sincere in their belief that [[Technology Is Evil]], they may thrust the characters into a situation ([[Closed Circle]], [[After the End]], etc.) where they must survive without [[Scavenger World|(most of) the technology]], and take the good with the bad; compare [[Space Amish]]. The inverse of this is a [[Cozy Catastrophe]], where the heroes are able to get General Motors, police and [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished|hair salons]] up and running again only a few months after [[America Wins the War]], with [[Throwaway Country|similarly unfortunate]] implications on the [[No Endor Holocaust|opposite end]] [[Space Whale Aesop|of the spectrum]], implying that the writer believes in the [[Status Quo Is God|Status Quo]]. [[Zeerust]] can have a similar effect if an otherwise futuristic (or even [[Informed Attribute|"dystopian"]]) technocratic society bears a curious resemblance to [[Write What You Know|when it was written]] and problems the society was experiencing at the time.
 
Any time this trope shows up, you are very likely to find [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]] in its wake (and the work will be taking the Romanticist side). Related tropes include the [[Mad Scientist]], [[ReluctantEngineer MadExploited ScientistFor Evil]], [[The Evil Army]], [[Government Conspiracy]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]], [[The Government|Government As Villain]], [[Mr. Exposition]], [[Technical Pacifist]], and [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]. The protagonist is often assisted by an [[Anti-Hero]] who used to work for the [[Mad Scientist]], and frequently has to deal with a [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]. See also [[Science Is Wrong]]. Polar opposite of most stories with a [[Science Hero]].
 
See also the [[Scale of Scientific Sins]] as well as [[Ambition Is Evil]]. Not to be confused with [[Do Not Try This At Home]] when Science is Dangerous, cause yeah, [[Straw Man Has a Point|sometimes it is.]]
{{examples}}
 
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The [[Aesop]] of the [[Anime]] ''[[Blue Gender]]'' is that humanity should never have advanced beyond an agricultural society.
* Same for ''[[Earth Maiden Arjuna]]''.
* ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'', at least in the manga version (which goes longer than the anime), goes back and forth between playing this trope straight & subverting it. On the one hand, the world was destroyed in a nuclear war, on the other, {{spoiler|the kindly & wise [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]] were actually created through bioengineering and so were the giant killer fungi which are actually helping to purify the Earth. Nausicaa believes that the natural order of life should prevail and that humanity needs to live or die without the benefits or burdens of the old technology.}}
* The main conflict presented in ''[[Steamboy]]'' is: that though scientists try to help the world there will either be [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|people who want to use it for profit]] or people who want use it for war. The protagonist's father is under the belief that science can save the world, the grandfather believes he is going too far, and the protagonist is neutral and just wants to make sure London doesn't get destroyed.
** In the end, though, the moral of the story feels less like '[[Science Is Bad]]' and more like 'science can be bad or good depending on how it's used.' Take for example the Steam Castle, which was {{spoiler|not originally a weapon, but the world's most advanced amusement park.}} Then there's Ray's numerous clever uses of the [[MacGuffin|Steamball]], like powering flying machines. At the very least, [[Steamboy]] manages to avoid being [[Anvilicious]] by grace of sheer ambiguity.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* [[Lex Luthor]], [[Superman]]'s archenemy, has long been a barometer of the great bogeyman of the era: from the 30s through the atomic age, as a mad scientist he played on readers' fears of science run rampant. (Later, he'd be a corporate shark in the '80s and a corrupt politician at the turn of the millennium.)
** Though from the [[Silver Age]] until the [[Crisis on Infinite Earths|Crisis,]] Superman himself was portrayed as a scientist of great ability (having, at the very least, perfect recall and access to Kryptonian tech), regularly building robots and whatnot. His standard lament to Luthor in [[Pre Crisis|those days]] was his wish that Luthor would go straight and use his brilliance to help mankind instead of being a [[Jerkass]].
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140209100811/http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1295:qthe-only-hero-protecting-you-from-scienceq&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&Itemid=38 Hoverboy: The Only Hero Protecting You From Science!]'' It should be noted, however, that Hoverboy is merely an [[Stealth Parody|elaborate hoax.]] Probably.
* Subverted by the [[Those Wacky Nazis|obvious Mengele analogue]] in a [[Badass Normal|Boba]] [[Star Wars|Fett]] comic, in which Fett accepted a challenge to wipe out the crew of a <s> Nazi</s> Imperial <s> flying concentration camp</s> genocide ship. The Mengele-wannabe is asked by his boss what experiment he's doing; Wannabe admits, "I gave up all pretense of science long ago. I do this for pleasure."
** [[Knights of the Old Republic (Comic Book)|Thousands of years earlier]] in ''Star Wars'' history, there was a Mandalorian [[Mad Scientist]] named Demagol who conducted cruel experiments on captured Jedi and on children (including ''his own daughter'') in an effort to imbue future generations of Mandalorian warriors with the ability to use [[The Force]]. His name was later adapted to "demagolka", the only word in the Mandalorian language for "war criminal".
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* The [[Archie]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comics originally averted this in the same fashion as [[Sat AM Sonic the Hedgehog|SatAM]], from which it derived most of its cast. However, the series seems to have sunk into this as time has gone by.
 
== Fan FictionWorks ==
 
== Fan Fiction ==
* In ''[[Half Life: Full Life Consequences]],'' the "Combines" come from science and outer space. And science also makes {{spoiler|Gordon Freeman}} tricked and live and strong and big. However what the fan fiction calls "science" is debatable, since in many cases, it is referred to as a tangible object.
 
 
== Film ==
* Inverted in ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]''; the scientists are all good guys and it's through the scientific approach that they realize they shouldn't interfere with Pandora's ecosystem. The Na'vi god is also a real being, fully examinable and explainable through science. The bad guys are the military and corporates who misuse technology.
** The movie does ''not'' suggest that humans should shift back to hunter-gatherer culture like some supporters and detractors believe. In fact, the supplementary material is pretty adamant that scientific advancement is the only way to rescue Earth from its miserable state, and that research from Pandora is vital to this progress. The message is that aboriginal peoples should not be forced to adapt modern lifestyle against their will, and that horrible consequences caused by environmental exploitation can't be fixed with more exploitation.
* The original ''[[The Fly]]'', contrary to popular belief, wasn't so much this trope than 'Science must not be approached with carelessness'. It even compares it to a 'great adventure'. In [[David Cronenberg]]'s remake, this motif is absent altogether: just because it went disastrously wrong ''once'' doesn't mean that teleportation is irredeemably evil.
** Though the original still features the scientist destroying the machine at the end, rather than seeing that it works fine if people aren't careless like he was.
* Completely turned around by ''[[Darkman]]'', who, admittedly, was hideously deformed in a [[Freak Lab Accident]], but the accident in question was caused by [[The Mafia]]. When things are going bad, he reminds himself, "I'm a scientist!"
* The documentary ''Expelled'' [[Godwin's Law|explicitly compares evolutionary biology to Nazism.]]
* Inverted by ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'', where blunt force ''could'' kill the rhedosaurus, but it spread the beast's disease far and wide, and only our heroic scientist can figure out a way to kill the rhedosaurus ''and'' the disease. Luckily, and [[The Evil Army|unusually]], the army guys are extremely cooperative.
* In the [[B-Movie]] ''Bats'', [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. McCabe initially justifies creating the rampaging super intelligent omnivorous bats with the words "I'm a scientist! [[For Science!|That's what we do!]]". No one finds this explanation even the slightest bit strange.
* Averted in the original ''[[Godzilla]]'' in which sane scientist Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer ultimately kills Godzilla at the end. Of course, Serizawa is also very careful ''not'' to let his invention fall into the wrong hands by [[Heroic Sacrifice|dying alongside Godzilla]] and [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|burning all papers that contain information on the device]].
** He's only concerned about the wrong hands in the American version. In the original Japanese version, Serizawa makes no distinction between right hands and wrong hands, saying that humanity's destructive nature will cause the Oxygen Destroyer to become our very undoing if ''anyone'' gets ahold of the device.
** ''[[Godzilla vs. Destoroyah]]'' retroactively questions the use of the Oxygen Destroyer by revealing it led to flesh-eating microbes that can strip organic matter immersed in water in seconds. These evolve into car-sized monsters spewing beams that disintegrate materials that possess oxygen molecules. And finally, ''these'' combine into, quite naturally, a flying Kaiju monster with a beam weapon that can kick Godzilla's ass.<br /><br />The monster verges on raising the radiation levels of the entire planet beyond what life could survive. It also questions whether the doctor's sacrifice was actually heroic as the Oxygen Destroyer was, compared to other methods, less likely to destroy cities or attempt to exterminate the human race.
*** The monster verges on raising the radiation levels of the entire planet beyond what life could survive. It also questions whether the doctor's sacrifice was actually heroic as the Oxygen Destroyer was, compared to other methods, less likely to destroy cities or attempt to exterminate the human race.
** Played straight in ''Godzilla VS Biollante'' in which genetic engineering causes the birth of a giant Godzilla-Rose hybrid monster (Biollante) with a human female soul. On the other hand, the scientists creating the Anti-Nuclear Bacteria is an aversion since it actually is one of the few things that can stop Godzilla. Despite the hero's fear that it will create another monster.
** Generally played straight with almost any Godzilla movie that explains the eponymous monster's origins or his reason for attacking. Most often he is the result of the testing of nuclear weapons, which is also the source of his [[Turned Against Their Masters|hatred of humankind]].
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* ''[[Event Horizon]]''. At one point the inventor of the gravity warp drive (which turns out to be a pretty evil warp drive) proclaims: "Captain, there's no danger... It's contained behind three magnetic fields, it's perfectly safe!" Oh science, what are you like?
* In ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra]]'' nanotechnology is the primary villain, both as gray-goo-inducing nanite warheads and as nanite injections that create superhuman flunkies for [[Big Bad|Cobra]]. There are many scientists involved in Cobra, and apparently, scientists can't be trusted: {{spoiler|Rex [[Face Heel Turn|switches sides]] because they have nanotechnology}}.
* The 2002 film version of ''[[The Time Machine]].'' Near the start of the movie, the protagonist's friend asks him whether humanity's progress will ever go too far; the protagonist replies, "no such thing."
* The 2002 film version of ''[[The Time Machine]].'' Near the start of the movie, the protagonist's friend asks him whether humanity's progress will ever go too far; the protagonist replies, "no such thing."<br /><br />He later has to admit that he was wrong -- when, in the future, he sees ''the Moon shattered into little pieces'' [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|by atomic bombs]]. Earlier, when the protagonist returned to the past to try and save his girlfriend, she was killed by a malfunctioning automobile (just as the protagonist stopped being fascinated with it because it was "just a machine," and not worth taking his attention off of his love).<br /><br />In the distant future, the Eloi are peaceful, good people with very primitive technology; the evil, ugly Morlocks have an industrial society [[Beneath the Earth]]. They also have a [[Big Bad]] with a giant brain who is especially good at engineering, and at being evil.<br /><br />And in the climax of the movie, the protagonist destroys the industrial Morlocks -- by blowing up his machine in their lair (commenting on its loss with, again, "it's just a machine"). The only positive portrayal science or technology get in the film is with the generally helpful [[Projected Man|holographic librarian]] (who [[Ragnarok Proofing|somehow survives hundreds of thousands of years]] and is shown reading books to children at the end). But his main function is to keep memories of the past (and, presumably, its follies) alive, not to represent, or aid, progress.
** He later has to admit that he was wrong—when, in the future, he sees ''the Moon shattered into little pieces'' [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|by atomic bombs]]. Earlier, when the protagonist returned to the past to try and save his girlfriend, she was killed by a malfunctioning automobile (just as the protagonist stopped being fascinated with it because it was "just a machine," and not worth taking his attention off of his love).
* ''[[9|Nine]]'' averts this. Science is what created the construction robot, but it was the government and military that put it to evil use. The scientist who created the robot then {{spoiler|sacrificed his own soul so that life, in some fashion, could carry on.}}
** In the distant future, the Eloi are peaceful, good people with very primitive technology; the evil, ugly Morlocks have an industrial society [[Beneath the Earth]]. They also have a [[Big Bad]] with a giant brain who is especially good at engineering, and at being evil.
** And in the climax of the movie, the protagonist destroys the industrial Morlocks—by blowing up his machine in their lair (commenting on its loss with, again, "it's just a machine"). The only positive portrayal science or technology get in the film is with the generally helpful [[Projected Man|holographic librarian]] (who [[Ragnarok Proofing|somehow survives hundreds of thousands of years]] and is shown reading books to children at the end). But his main function is to keep memories of the past (and, presumably, its follies) alive, not to represent, or aid, progress.
* ''[[9|Nine]]'' averts this. Science is what created the construction robot, but it was the government and military that put it to evil use. The scientist who created the robot then {{spoiler|sacrificed his own soul so that life, in some fashion, could carry on.}}
* Dr. Carrington in ''[[The Thing from Another World]]'' is a complete moron who continues to insist in the face of increasingly overwhelming evidence that the alien the base is dealing with is an intelligent and peaceful being, and repeatedly endangers everyone's lives trying to communicate with it.
* In ''[[Rocky IV]]'' the cold, emotionless Russian boxeboxer Ivan Drago is shown training in a cartoonishly high-tech facility that measures his every exertion while government technicians look on, meanwhile vituous American Rocky trains on a farm by cutting down trees, lifting bales of hay, and running with a yoke on his shoulders. Guess who wins.
 
 
== Folk Lore ==
* The American folk tale of John Henry tells of the man's victory in a hammerin' race against a steam-powered hammer. He wins, but the effort kills him. He dies with the old-fashioned hammer still in his hand.
 
 
== Literature ==
* This is ''not'' the point of ''[[Frankenstein]]''. In the novel by [[Mary Shelley]], the point of the story is that Frankenstein brought a creature into the world and allowed it to turn to evil by treating it like a monster. However, this ''is'' the point of just about every film adaptation of the story, which almost always deliver an [[Anvilicious]] [[An Aesop|Aesop]].
** With the surprising exception of the [[Mel Brooks]] parody ''[[Young Frankenstein]]'', in which the eponymous scientist succeeds where his ancestor failed by accepting his creation like a loving father. When a group of his colleagues recoil in horror at the creature, he admonishes them "We are not children! We are scientists!", and the only real flaw in his creation (its permanently child-like, limited mind) is fixed by ''another'' scientific procedure, which Frankenstein risks his life to carry out.
** Stephen Jay Gould wrote one essay as a good-natured correction to people who thought ''Frankenstein'' was based around [[Science Is Bad]], pointing out that while Shelley admits that being too excessive in a pursuit is usually a bad thing, ''all'' her examples were ''political''.
* [[Jonathan Swift]] rams this Trope down the reader's throat in the Laputa chapter of ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]''. The rulers are tyrants [[Politically Incorrect Villain| (and chauvinists)]] who respect only science, but it has made them [[The Caligula| incompetent rulers]]; while they are fond of mathematics, astronomy, music and technology, they fail to make practical use of their knowledge. For instance, buildings in Laputa are poorly built and the clothing doesn't fit because they take measurements with instruments such as quadrants and a compass rather than with tape measures. Their physical conditions [[Evil Makes You Ugly| have degenerated too]], depicted as becoming so lost in thought that they do not move unless an attendant strikes them with a "bladder"; many of their heads have become stuck reclined to one side, and they often suffer from strabismus: one eye turns inward and the other looks up "to the zenith". They don't even know that their wives [[Your Cheating Heart| are adulterers]] who are using their husbands' lack of attention to carry on affairs with the more loving servants. Even worse, they've had a negative effect on their subjects. Not only are Lagado and Balnibarbi poverty-stricken, the governor of the former visited Laputa once, and was inspired to build the Academy of Projectors, where completely worthless projects are endlessly pursued. Ironically, the governor of Balnibarbi is likely the most lucid man in the chapter, and one of the few characters Gulliver meets in the entire novel with any common sense. Of course, Swift was using this chapter to mock - [[Satire| among other things]] - the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society absurd inventions of the Royal Society.]
* In [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[Dragonriders of Pern|Pern]]'' novels, some of the natives regard the newly rediscovered supercomputer as evil and try to destroy or discredit it, either through superstition or fear of change. The planet was originally settled by people who only wanted to leave their ''dependance'' on technology behind, not to form a Luddite civilization. In time this meant they lost all but the most basic stuff needed for survival, and because of this they suffered. It was eventually ''returning'' to the technological state which saved them, when they found AI which gave them access to all the tech the colonists planned on having, but lost.
* Many works of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] express this Trope, showing Lovecraft's own distrust and fear of technology and lack of understanding of technological concepts. For example, "Cool Air" is about a doctor who has kept himself alive (as a walking corpse) using air conditioning (which was new at the time of writing) while in "The Color of Space" (written around the time infrared and ultraviolet light had recently been discovered), weird and unearthly colors are a sign of a slumbering [[Eldritch Abomination]].
* In [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[Dragonriders of Pern|Pern]]'' novels, some of the natives regard the newly rediscovered supercomputer as evil and try to destroy or discredit it, either through superstition or fear of change. The planet was originally settled by people who only wanted to leave their ''dependancedependence'' on technology behind, not to form a Luddite civilization. In time this meant they lost all but the most basic stuff needed for survival, and because of this they suffered. It was eventually ''returning'' to the technological state which saved them, when they found AI which gave them access to all the tech the colonists planned on having, but lost.
** Given the AI is dropped in as a near-literal [[Deus Ex Machina]], and the new technology is rammed down the throats of the populace by a small group who've already developed a reputation for ruling by fiat because they saved the world and they know best.
* [[H.P. Lovecraft]] goes a step further, though it's [[Fantastic Aesop|not just science]]; H.P. Lovecraft's stories had a recurring theme that [[Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|''wanting to know more about the world'']] would inevitably lead to insanity and corruption. Lovecraft had a love-hate relationship with science. On one hand he was delighted and inspired by its discoveries, but on the other he found it horribly formulaic and unimaginative (complaints he also had about mainstream religion). His short story, ''Silver Key'' pretty much summarizes his less than flattering thoughts towards ''all'' forms of mainstream thinking.
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* In the novel ''[[Feed]]'' by M.T. Anderson, having essentially an internet hookup directly into your brain lets you look up anything instantly, so no one ever bothers to really learn or remember anything, becoming imbeciles with the attention span of gnats.
* This is one of the main messages of ''Ceremony'', along with [[Unfortunate Implications|"White people are evil beings created by witcherey to destroy the world'']]
* ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]],'' has a touch of this. [[H. G. Wells|Wells's]] Martians are clearly designed as his projection of what man himself might evolve into, given enough time: little more than bodiless brains, helpless if separated from their machines. Wells may have viewed this fate as inevitable for mankind.
* Although most of his later novels were much more pro-technology, [[Jules Verne]]'s early novel ''[[Paris in The Twentieth Century]]'' portrays a cold, sterile future where artistic and humanistic pursuits have been all but abandoned in favor of technology as an answer to all human problems. The main character, a poet, can find neither work nor sympathy, and {{spoiler|dies starving in the streets}}.
* This tends to be a characteristic of many Stephen King novels, including his magnum opus (the [[The Dark Tower]] series). We have
** The Great Old Ones from the Dark Tower series, who are explicitly described as being "deceived by the false light of science", replacing the magic with their own imperfect science and technology, then killing themselves off with weapons that leave the world a polluted, ruined mess.
** [[The Plague|The superflu]] from [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]''. which escapes a government lab and kills off 99.4% of the world's population--ofpopulation—of course the creators designed it to make sure an antivirus could never be made. The mini-series implies that Flagg may have had a role in the release of it, but the book itself describes it as a series of foul-ups and technical errors.
** Flagg is specifically described by [[AuthorWriter Onon Board|Glen Bateman]] as "the last magician of rational thought" (!) and he gives an impassioned defense of the concept that they should not be so quick to recreate the technological civilization that created things like nukes and bio-engineered germs in the first place.
{{quote|'''[[The Hero|Stu:]]''': ''(of [[Magical Negro|Mother Abigail]])'' Well, it's obvious she's some sort of [[Dream Weaver|magnet]].<br />
'''[[The Mentor|Glen:]]''': So I suppose we start building the whole sorry mess up again... using her as [[Fake Ultimate Hero|magnetic north]]. }}
* In the words of Jean Baudrillard in ''The Procession of Simulacra'', "Science never sacrifices itself. It is always murderous." Keep in mind that he didn't think science was inherently bad, despite that quote.
* In the last ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' book, the world religion of the planet Pardal centers entirely around the suppression of scientific progress, [[Cargo Cult|while at the same time worshiping an ancient defense computer as the voice of God]].
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* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]: The book show us both sides of this question: In almost all the book, [[The Professor]] Aronnax, a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] expert on marine life is showed all the good things the [[Cool Ship|Nautilus]] can accomplish (scientific discoveries, exploration of the South Pole, teasure hunting, etc). Only after [[The Reveal]], that the Nautilus is used as a terrible (for the standards of the 19th century) [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]], Aronnax’s [[Heel Realization]] lets him know that those good things can’t justify the terrible violence.
* The second and third ''[[Dinotopia]]'' books were quite [[Anvillicious]] about this, although it should be noted that they were more anti-technology than anti-science, since the protagonist himself was a scientist (although more of a naturalist, really).
* [[The Tripods]] used this,but as a pretense of the antagonists rather than an actual theme of the work. The Masters gave the appearance that they blamed science and technology for humankind's evilness, thus pushing humanity back to the middle ages with the Caps. (ie sending the [[Science Is Bad]] message through the caps.) It was really to stifle creativity and independent thinking and make humans easier to subdue.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* A recurring theme in the ''[[Outer Limits]]''. It is the basis for the plot of many (though not all) of its episodes.
** A prominent episode involves a trial in the [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] United States, which has forsaken technology and banned teaching science under the penalty of death. A 20th century scientist develops [[Time Travel]] and goes to the future only to be arrested for breaking the ban. She goes before the [[Supreme Court]] and argues to repeal the ban, as a plague will wipe out most of humanity in the near future if technological research is not restarted. Another time traveler arrives to argue for the opposite, as humanity's expansion to the stars will eventually cause us to piss off an advanced alien race and lead to our destruction. In the end, they send the second time traveler to the past and agree to repeal the ban, only for the second guy's fusion bomb to activate and wipe out Washington, DC.
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', science is usually the cause of evil, and science (in the form of the Doctor) usually saves the day. Whether or not it uses this trope depends on the specific episode.
* [[Joss Whedon]] has said the idea behind the Initiative from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was to create a conflict between science and magic, and when that happens, of course, magic eventually kicks science's ass. The Initiative goes on recon to study the habits of vampires and captures them so they can do further tests, all to [[Doing inIn the Wizard|better understand how they work and how they can best be contained]]. Buffy just stakes 'em. Guess which works better?
* ''[[Star Trek]]'', despite being the best-known [[Speculative Fiction]] series, often dipped its toe into this trope. Worked on a sort of sliding scale, where the level of science the Federation had at that particular point in the episode was the exact right amount and trying to advance beyond that was just asking for the technological equivalent of [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin'|not being able to get away with a damn thing]]. Offscreen advance of science: good. Onscreen advance of science: bad.
** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]'' episode which most directly addresses this is "The Way to Eden" (the infamous "space hippie" one). Dr. Sevrin's followers want to abandon technology and return to a pastoral existence. Between his Vulcan half's admiration for their (ahem, [[Technical Pacifist|technical!)]] pacifism, and his human half's submerged longing for exactly that sort of simple life, [[Rounded Character|Spock]] of all people ends up sympathizing with them. He's deeply disappointed when their leader turns out to be nuts.
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager's]]'' take on the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|Q]] is interesting. ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]]'' had previously established that the Q believed humans might one day develop into a civilization comparable to themselves (and were [[Fantastic Racism|not very pleased about it);]] yet, in Voyager, most of the all-but-omnipotent Q are shown to be bored half out of their minds, because life offers no challenges any more.
** Averted in Roddenberry's novelization of the first [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|movie,]] which claims that most of humanity outside of Starfleet is actually going a transhumanist route, forming into massminds and such. Kirk, as narrator, regards this as a generally good thing and chides himself for being old-fashioned. However, this claim [[Canon Discontinuity|is not supported]] anywhere else in Trek canon.
** In TOS, [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] Sam Cogley's speech in "[[Star Trek/Recap/S1 /E20 Court Martial|Court Martial]]" about liking his book collection better than his computer, even though he admits it can display any of their contents instantly.
** The TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer" is a great example of this trope, combined with a little [[Ludd Was Right]]. The Enterprise is testing a brand-new computer that could automate starships completely, making crews and captains all but obsolete. Of course, [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]], things go south fast, and our heroes must pull the plug and save the day, but not before the sorrowful moments where Kirk faces the thought he may become obsolete. The scientist who designed the computer also turns out to be insane at the end, just to drive the point home.
* ''[[Fringe]]'' seems to take a stance of science being both bad ''and'' good, since its used to both cause ''and'' help solve the Freaky [[Mystery of the Week]]!
** The [[Gray and Grey Morality]] of the show seems to imply that science can accomplish good things, but at the cost of other good things, and the scientist's [[YMMV|mileage may vary]] as to whether the accomplishments are worth the cost. This is especially obvious when comparing and contrasting Walter and Walternate; each crosses lines that the other will not. For example, Walter is willing to experiment on children while [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child|Walternate is not]], but Walternate is willing to trap people alive in amber while Walter is not.
* While the ''[[Stargate]]'' series mostly avert this, the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Trinity," wherein McKay finds an abandoned Ancient experiment to produce limitless energy, it's repeatedly suggested that he is getting in over his head (The Ancients did not complete the program, and it went rather wrong). Despite constant protestations that this is a field they are simply not ready for, McKay continues. In the end he ends up destroying a Stellar System. While the episode plays the aesop straight, a later episode has a solution to the problems from the first time, and the attempt is assisted by an Asgard, the most technologically advanced race who will talk with humanity.
** Well, five sixths of a Solar System. It's not an exact science.
* On an episode of ''[[CSI]]: NY'', this trope is used to demonize the science of Genetics. It starts off with a supposed dead man being stolen from the back of the van that was bringing it to the morgue. Then the body is dumped in the river, fished out and then found to be alive... brain dead, but alive. They find their way to a genetics research lab that's making goats produce silk in their milk and rats grow ears on their backs. The scientist in charge explains the benefits of it (silk in bulk, replacing a lost body part) but the cops just remark about how weird it is and when they leave remark that it's wrong. The main character going so far as to say progress was great, "but should've stopped."<br /><br />Turns out the genetics lab induced human hibernation on the victim, which the victim was involved in voluntarily and by accident the vic took too much of the mixture they created too fast. He ran out choking and collapsed. They stole him from the van thinking he was alive, thought he was dead when they couldn't revive him and dumped him before they got in more trouble for their unethical experiments. When confronted by this news the head scientist can only remark about his delight that it worked and lists off all the benefits like prolonged space travel and how he will be famous.<br /><br />The second suspect tries to tell the cops how putting them away will "shut the door on the future" as [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|no one else knows the formula but them]], but to the cops the complicated issue is simple, they committed attempted murder (even though they thought the guy was already dead) and are going to jail. It's not "robot apocalypse" or "mutant monster" worthy, but it still denotes the same thing: science is weird... and bad.
** Turns out the genetics lab induced human hibernation on the victim, which the victim was involved in voluntarily and by accident the vic took too much of the mixture they created too fast. He ran out choking and collapsed. They stole him from the van thinking he was alive, thought he was dead when they couldn't revive him and dumped him before they got in more trouble for their unethical experiments. When confronted by this news the head scientist can only remark about his delight that it worked and lists off all the benefits like prolonged space travel and how he will be famous.
** The second suspect tries to tell the cops how putting them away will "shut the door on the future" as [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|no one else knows the formula but them]], but to the cops the complicated issue is simple, they committed attempted murder (even though they thought the guy was already dead) and are going to jail. It's not "robot apocalypse" or "mutant monster" worthy, but it still denotes the same thing: science is weird... and bad.
* ''[[Eleventh Hour]]'' generally runs on this trope, as should be expected of a show about a duo that takes down people who apply new technology unethically. However, it does at times depict the potential good that can be done with stem cells, genetic engineering and the like.
* Most of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' avoids this, but the finale takes a great big swerve into [[Writer on Board]] territory. {{spoiler|First, everybody decides to chuck their technology and revert to hunter-gatherer barbarism in the hopes that their descendants will do better. Second, Ron Moore confirms that, after a thoughtful examination of how difficult it is to break the cycle of revenge, he chucked the metaphor and explained that [http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/03/battlestar_galactica_ronald_d.html he's scared of our new Japanese robot overlords].}}
* An episode of ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' featured Stephen interviewing the author of a book about robots and AI. The author pointed out that the West is largely wary of AI (see ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey|2001]]'') while the East (especially Japan) generally sees AI as a positive thing (see ''[[Astro Boy]]'').
** Stephen often says things like "I'm no fan of science," but seemed entirely keen on one specific form when hearing about a superlaser that concentrated laser beams into a small area to produce the temperatures and pressures of a star:
{{quote|'''Stephen''': ''We have our own [[Star Wars|Death Star!]]''<br />
''(Cue rain of black balloons and a big "WE HAVE OUR OWN DEATH STAR" sign flashing in the foreground)'' }}
* An inversion in an episode of ''[[Sliders]]'' the gang ends up sliding to a world where all new technology was banned after the end of World War 2. This world's version of Quinn was killed by polio, and they convince Quinn's dad that technology is not bad and would have saved his son. He helps them to repair their timer with his dead son's illegal technology. Of course, the local Evil Corporation decides to steal the timer as they have been creating technology in secret so they can corner the market once the ban is lifted.
* Dark Science Empire Deathdark, the villain group of ''[[Dai Sentai Goggle Five]]'', revolve around using science for evil things. It's also informed that they helped the invention of sword so it can be used to kill. Ouch.
* ''[[Lost]]'' played with this trope with Dharma Initiative being the "we will do it no matter what" side. Taken to the logical conclusion in season's 5 finale {{spoiler|where they continue to drill over a pocket of electromagnetic energy, although they know that in-universe EM is a [[You Fail Physics Forever|bad, explosive thing]]}}.
 
 
== Music ==
* The entire ''01011001'' album by the metal opera group [[Ayreon]]. See the song "Unnatural Selection" for a particularly [[Anvilicious]] example.
* [[System of a Down]]'s "Science" is entirely devoted to explaining in detail how [[Science Is Bad]] and has "failed us," as "spirit moves through all things." [[Hypocritical Humor|Performed on electric instruments.]]
* [[Styx]]'s album ''Kilroy Was Here'' includes some brief diatribes, not against science per se, but against technology:
{{quote|The problem's plain to see
Line 152 ⟶ 151:
But what happens when man creates Something oh so Wrong?
Then Nature bites back in BIG WAY! Good heavens, what have I done?? }}
* The song [https://web.archive.org/web/20120720083216/http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1897771/Red-Guitars-Good-Technology-Lyrics Good Technology] by Red Guitars doesn't necessarily condemn technology, but does lampshade its absurdities and moral ambiguities. The last verse sums it up:
{{quote|Sometimes I wonder what it is all about
There's lots of leisure time to sit and work it out
Line 158 ⟶ 157:
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
Good technology }}
* Played first at straight, but later averted in Sepultura's ''Biotech Is Godzilla''.
{{quote|Bio-technology ain't what's so bad
Like all technology, it's in the wrong hands
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* "White Coats" by New Model Army appears to fit this trope, although it can be interpreted as criticisng science when practiced without foresight or ethics, particularly given that it was written during an apparently self-destructive [[Cold War|US-Soviet nuclear arms race]]- "Those last few days at Jonestown ain't got nothing on this ".
 
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
* The American folk tale of John Henry tells of the man's victory in a hammerin' race against a steam-powered hammer. He wins, but the effort kills him. He dies with the old-fashioned hammer still in his hand.
 
== Radio ==
* Subverted in a strange and depressing sort of way by Arch Oboler's ''Lights Out'' radio short [http://thethunderchild.com/RadioDrama/LightsOut/TheChickenHeart.html "Chicken Heart"] (as made famous by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPimtcK3-A Bill Cosby]); the scientist responsible for creating the spreading, cancerous blob of chicken muscle knows exactly how to stop the monster, but he can't get the authorities to [[Cloverfield|drop the hammer]] in time or with enough force. {{spoiler|If only they'd known about the monster-retardant properties of Jell-O.}}
 
== Recorded and Stand Up Comedy ==
 
== Stand Up Comedy ==
* Parodied by comedian Patton Oswalt in his standup routine where he lambasts science for allowing a couple in their sixties to conceive due to it being horrifying, Ending with the line "Hey, we made cancer airborne and contagious. You're welcome. We're science, we're all about could, not should". This, however, is an exception in that quite a few of his other routines exalt the virtues of science and progress, however.
 
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'': Yawgmoth is portrayed as a rational-minded character who relies only on scientific methods, while others [[Black Box|rely on not better defined "magic"]]. And, of course, he's the [[Big Bad]].
** Averted by other characters, however - Tocasia, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Venser of Urborg, Slobad of Mirrodin, and Arcum Dagsson are all extremely talented artificers, and all are unambiguously heroic. Urza was more...[[Anti-Hero|on the fence about it]].
* [[White Wolf]]'s ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' and ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]''.
Line 193 ⟶ 192:
** The [[Broken Aesop]] of the entire [[Old World of Darkness]] oWOD]] was that the creeds opposing "stasis", represented by the science that regularly changes the world, were heavily into hierarchy and hadn't changed in centuries.
** In the ''[[New World of Darkness]]'', things have taken a step or two away. Werewolves still largely distrust technology, because it's done more to screw up the Shadow Realm than just about anything else, but they accept that it has a place and hold this version's technophile tribe, the Iron Masters, in better regard than their past counterparts. In fact, one of the ''antagonist'' Pure Tribes is given the "Luddites" hat (it's worth noting the Pure are ''very'' reminiscent of the Garou). Over in ''Mage'', things haven't changed as much; the Free Council, [[Spiritual Successor]] to the Virtual Adepts, are given short shrift largely because they're rather young and tend to make nuisances of themselves.
** The fanmade ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'' certainly can give this vibe, but it's actually not an example since no comment is made on sane science -- orscience—or arguably an aversion since the further a Genius' beliefs differ from reality, the one sane scientists are so busy documenting, the easier it is to slip into outright grave-robbing, god-defying, blood-splattered [[Mad Science]].
* Kicked in the balls by ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]:'' the main reason why humans have a fighting chance is because science found a way to make Magitek and [[Humongous Mecha]].
{{quote|'''Random Free Councilor:''' "Told you so!"}}
* Settings where [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]. Of course, most of these worlds are [[Cyberpunk]] [[World Half Empty|dystopias]], so they often feature the [[Science Is Bad]] trope in other ways, too.
* ''[[SLA Industries]]'', where it's probably impossible to count all the examples of "SLA tries to solve their problems by engineering a new breed of super-monster, but it goes nuts and [[Turned Against Their Masters|turns against them]]".
* ''[[Kult]]'', where "Victim Of Medical Experiments" is a viable Dark Secret for players. Oh, yeah, along with the fact that the growth of cities and technology is actually part of the breakdown of the illusion that is reality -- thereality—the illusion that's covering up the horrifying ''true'' reality underneath it.
* In ''[[GURPS]] Traveller Interstellar Wars'' this is averted. The Terrans are excited about science because they like everything new. The Vilani are not interested in advancement but only because their ancestors deliberately decided that it was coming to a point of diminishing returns, not that they hated it in principal. Most of the sympathy is with the Terrans although the Vilani are not treated without sympathy despite the fact that the word Vilani sounds like villain. Both sides are Federations and the chief cause of the war seems to be mutual arrogance.
* In the original ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' "Known World" campaign setting (later renamed [[Mystara]]), the ancient civilization of Blackmoor was technological, but destroyed itself in what is implied to have been a nuclear war. The Immortals decreed that this could never be allowed to happen again. However, they allowed one pocket of Blackmoor society to endure as a lost land in the Hollow World with the caveat that all of its simulated "technology" is actually magic based, and therefore impossible for its citizens to reverse engineer, reproduce, or improve upon.
* Parodied in ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]''. Science is crazy, even when it's [[Crazy Awesome]], and [[Everything Trying to Kill You|it's trying to kill you]].
 
 
== Theatre ==
* Steve Reich's "video opera" ''Three Tales'', an [[Author Filibuster]]-filled work that centres around the crash of the airship Hindenberg, the nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, and Dolly the cloned sheep.
 
 
== Video Games ==
Line 213 ⟶ 210:
** Subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. The characters (and the population of Spira in general) spend most of the game thinking that the [[Big Bad]] was created as punishment for bad science, only to find out that {{spoiler|it's actually magic gone wrong. They eventually defeat him with machines believed to be evil, instead of the religious ritual they were meant to use.}} By ''X-2'', both of the major factions (the Youth League and New Yevon) agree science is okay; their major disagreement is how fast it should be implemented (New Yevon being the more conservative faction).
*** It's also the reason that the Al Bhed are ostracised from society; they've always made heavy use of machina, and are the only ones to speak out against the idea of the [[Appeal to Tradition|summoner's pilgrimage]], though this is mainly because of {{spoiler|the fact that the process ends up in the death of the summoner for what would only be a quick breather from Sin's malice}}.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' waffles back and forth on this one. On the one hand, many of the characters rely on technology and science to live and get by, particularly after the events of the game itself. But characters like Hojo, who experiments on people purely to satisfy his own ego, rather than benefiting humanity, and the rest of Shinra Inc. tend to abuse it. Also, bear in mind the game's environmental message, and how going back to a simpler, rustic existence was seen as favourable to an advanced one. However, Bugenhagan, the head of the most rustic settlement in the world, enjoys his ride on the Airship, calling the technology something akin to "the wisdom of man." The real message doesn't seem to be that [[Science Is Bad]], but that Science needs to be used carefully.
* Played with in ''[[Okami]]'', where {{spoiler|[[God of Evil|Yami, God of Darkness]] is implied to be the originator of Technology and is basically a [[Humongous Mecha]] (albeit with a squishy core resembling that of a fishbowl)}} as well as the fact that the demons Lechku and Nechku are robotic owls. However, Waka's Tao Warriors use [[Magitek]] computers and the Moon Tribe apparently do have some access to advanced technology. In fact, helping a mechanic with his research will give Amaterasu the power to summon lightning. Ultimately, it seems that Science and Evil don't exactly go hand in hand.
* ''[[Mother 3]]'' heavily suggests that the proliferation of technology would bring about the world's downfall, especially given how certain scenery transforms as the game progresses. Though it seems to hint more at an '[[Eagle Land|American culture is bad]]' message. Which is really ironic given how the first two games celebrated modern society and used the setting as an [[Affectionate Parody]] of American culture.
Line 224 ⟶ 221:
* Similar to [[Fan Nickname|"SatAM"]] ''[[Sonic Sat AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' below is [[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Sonic CD]]. {{spoiler|Taking Robotnik and his robot generators out of the equation reveals a good future in which technology and nature co-exist harmoniously}}
* ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' is based on the premise that teleportation is literal contact with Hell. Half or more of the demons are cybernetically augmented. On the other hand, experimental weapons tend to save the day. In the third game, the company that develops the teleportation device is shown to have also created breakthroughs in energy generation and storage, and is in the process of terraforming Mars.
* While not exactly played straight in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', the technology actually ''does'' have the unintended side effect {{spoiler|of summoning the Adephagos.}} As it turns out, in-universe, {{spoiler|all technology is actually powered by ''[[Nightmare Fuel|the souls of the Entelexeia, solidified and broken into fragments.]]}}''}}
* This is Myria's viewpoint in ''[[Breath of Fire]] III''.
* There are good scientists in ''[[City of Heroes]]''. They're just constantly over shadowed by people like [[Mega Corp|Crey]], [[Those Wacky Nazis|the 5th Column, The Council]], and [[Playing with Syringes|Neuron]]. Oh, and Portal Corp, despite being a good organization, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|has caused way more harm than good]].
Line 236 ⟶ 233:
* ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' 3 Tia and Jack were both orphaned in war for the technology of their home. They want to use Meteor G to destroy all the worlds technology.
 
== Web Original ==
 
* Technology articles on ''[[Cracked.com]]'' tend to fit the form, "Seven ways X Scientific Advancement Can Kill You" or "Eight More Animals That Can Horribly Kill You." Since ''Cracked'' is an entertainment site first and a news site fifty-seventh, it makes more sense this way.
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Ink City]]'' has attracted plenty of scientists, including [[Jimmy Two-Shoes|Heloise]], [[El Tigre|Dr. Chipotle Jr.]], [[Megamind]], [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] and [[Portal 2|Caroline]]. There are also characters who want to use science to analyze and control the unpredictable residents, like [[Aeon Flux|Trevor]].
* Technology articles on ''[[Cracked]]'' tend to fit the form, "Seven ways X Scientific Advancement Can Kill You" or "Eight More Animals That Can Horribly Kill You." Since ''Cracked'' is an entertainment site first and a news site fifty-seventh, it makes more sense this way.
* ''[[Ink City]]'' has attracted plenty of scientists, including [[Jimmy Two-Shoes|Heloise]], [[El Tigre|Dr. Chipotle Jr.]], [[Megamind]], [[G La DOS]] and [[Portal 2|Caroline]]. There are also characters who want to use science to analyze and control the unpredictable residents, like [[Aeon Flux|Trevor]].
** [[Pokémon|Mew]] believes that all science is inheritly evil, and that scientists are [[Complete Monster|soulless monsters]]. Due to this, she sees nothing wrong with [[Cold-Blooded Torture|subjecting them to]] [[A Fate Worse Than Death]].
 
== Web Comics ==
 
* Brutally satirized in the [httphttps://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/ this"Caveman Science Fiction"] ''[[Dresden Codak]]'' strip.
== Webcomics ==
* Brutally satirized in [http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/ this] ''[[Dresden Codak]]'' strip.
** Now has a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEChG1DKGvY live action version]!
* This sentiment is expressed by minor characters in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', given the damage that Sparks are known to do (and many of the characters who think so were, indeed, casualties of Spark activity). One of these characters is Othar Tryggvassen ([[Memetic Mutation|GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!]]), a Spark himself, who decided to set off on a quest to eliminate the Spark from the world, ending with his own death, because he's keenly aware of how dangerous they can be.
** In fairness, "sparks" and "science" are very much not the same thing. Sparks tend to be brilliant and crazy scientists (or, in one notable case, a brilliant and crazy social scientist), but there are also numerous non-spark scientists. Scientific progress would continue without sparks, it would just slow down.
* ''[[No Black Plume]]'' frequently parodies this, including a six-part series entitled "Science Will Ruin Your Life".
* ''[[Minimum Security]]'' is a very hard, left-leaning environmentalist comic that oftensoften takes pot shots at science. Many characters bomb labs and power plants while celebrating a world in which people remained aggrarianagrarian.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* Practically every episode of the first season of ''[[Superfriends]]'' focused not on a villain but on a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], a [[Mad Scientist]] or a regular scientist whose invention accidentally runs amok. An early episode had a scientist gains hyper-intelligence (and a cartoonishly enlarged cranium) due to some sort of radiation experiment, and rather than use his superior intellect to take over the world, decides to broadcast the rays so that ''everyone'' on Earth can enjoy the same radically evolved intelligence as him. Thank god the Justice League saved us from the horrifying fate of becoming smarter!
* Dr. Blight from ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]'' is the show's resident embodiment of the trope.
** Having said that, one Planeteer Alert encourages viewers to learn more about science, since science can be used for good.
* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]],'' with the ignorant townsfolk going on an anti-science riot, including attacking the Museum of Natural History, with Moe smashing a mammoth skeleton, having it land on his back and crying "Oh! My back! I'm paralyzed! I only hope medical science can cure me!"
** Another episode showed a similar mob set to burn Principal Skinner at the stake for insisting that the earth revolves around the sun.
Line 263 ⟶ 257:
** The Roboticizer wasn't even ''his.'' Uncle Chuck invented it as a means of keeping people with terminal illnesses alive until a cure could be found, or even as a means of eliminating amputation. Of course, when Robotnik came to power, guess who was the first one to get thrown into the Roboticizer...?
** Sally Acorn, co-protagonist, [[Everything's Better with Princesses|Princess]], and [[Love Interest]], also has her own [[Robot Buddy|artificially intelligent handheld computer]] named Nicole, who is consistently helpful to our heroes.
* Averted with [[Gadgeteer Genius|the Mechanist]] in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. It's true that he is pretty much destroying all the original architecture of one of the last Air Nomad temples to provide modern conveniences to his fellow refugees who now live in it, and manufacturing weapons for [[The Empire|the Fire Nation]], but he is actually portrayed quite positively (and the whole weapons manufacturing thing was due to Fire Nation forces threatening violence against his people, which they later carried out).
* Played straight in an episode of the computer animated ''[[The Garfield Show|Garfield]]'' series. The first half of the episode features Odie digging up a dinosaur bone, only to have the local museum threaten to get a court order evicting them from their home because "science is more important" the second part of the episode features a cleaning robot gone mad.
* In the ''[[Teacher's Pet (TV series)|Teachers Pet]]'' movie, the [[Big Bad]] says, "Nature is dead! Science is king!" Of course, [[Straw Vulcan|science is the study of nature...]]
* While ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'' does not have this as a theme, Thor does have this opinion.
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' parodies this trope in "Tick vs. The Proto Clown", in which a scientist who loves clowns theorized that a ''bigger'' clown would be even funnier, and his creation is now terrorizing The City.
{{quote|'''Arthur:''' Good gosh, man. Didn't you know it was against the laws of nature? Clowns were never meant to be that big!
'''Scientist:''' [[Gone Horribly Wrong|I know that... now...]] }}
* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTdzCAGH3lU Invention of Love]'' has [[Steampunk]] technology in a "too much of a good thing" sense. Mechanical horses? Awesome! A house full of appliances? Convenient! A polluted city without any natural flora or fauna? Throwing away the rose your true love gave you when it wilts ''[[Up to Eleven|and building a mechanical replacement]]''? ...not so much.
 
 
== Real Life ==
* Everything can be bad, if misused. Usually, [[Averted Trope|science is good]].
** Which makes this trope especially ironic, given that people expressing this belief often utilize quite a bit of science and technology.
* Many social justice bloggers think that science is "colonialist" and "white people's power" and talk about how people using science to decide on what the world is like is oppressive, [[Hypocrite|even as they type on their laptop with their high speed internet connection]].
* Any worker who has lost his job to a machine and then worried where his children's next meal will come from is understandably likely to express [[Ludd Was Right|this sentiment]]. Of course, the engineer that designed the machine and the technician operating and maintaining it, both which can now stop worrying about where their children's meals will come from, tend to have the opposite sentiment.
* Socrates once grumbled that, as ''writing'' became a more universal skill, people would become forgetful because they could simply write things down.
Line 281 ⟶ 275:
** But there is also data to suggest that taking notes aid in retention of knowledge. So, who can say?
* Similarly, obesity is becoming a problem as physical labor becomes less necessary, while the nutrition (including fat) density of food goes up and hyperstimulants act on humans' in-built desires and cause them to eat more.
* This is a primary view of the Anarcho-Primitivist movement, and John Zerzan especially, who condemns ''writing and abstract thought'' as among other things, they lead to, you guessed it, technology and science. "Technology" simply means tool-making, something humans (and chimps, and crows...) do by nature, so [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]] and need to die or be lobotomized in their view.
** For those of you wondering what Zerzan ''does'' approve of, his ideal is basically one of acting on little more (''if'' more) than immediate desire and instinct. Not to mention a way of experiencing one's environment that's open to its totality--thetotality—the main reason he detests abstraction, reification, and naming, as distractions that make one only take in a subset at a time. Suffice to say that he thinks the only unalloyed-good form of communication is ''telepathy'' (q.v. the idea that "lovers need no words"--even—even though that has more to do with being used to each other's methodologies).
** It's also worth noting that many anarcho-primitivists don't abjure tools, in the sense of objects utilized and/or modified for a very specific task (q.v. crows), and (more importantly) not requiring specialization. The sort of technology they think has no place in a viable society is the sort that requires just such specialization (and, by corollary, relinquishing of anything ''else'' you could do for the people...even if you yourself ''initially'' sought to abjure the other tasks to fine-tune that one goal, apparently). This basically means anything more complex than a kayak, bow, or fishing weir. Science is Bad here because it tempts one towards that which requires mandated labor division.
* It bears repeating that in fictional works, as in real life, science and technology are often treated as interchangeable, though they are not. Often a criticism of a particular application of a technology, or of its social repercussions, but may not be a criticism of the scientific method of study and problem solving - but are grouped under the anti-science label anyway - either by mistake or as an attempt to discredit the criticism. As mentioned above, Luddism was more a social/political movement focusing on the role of industrialization on labor displacement and working-class oppression, than a pure [[Irrational Hatred]] of technology (in modern popular usage, the context is edited out, and "Luddite" basically means primitive and reactionary).
** On the same note, efforts to point out bad science can also get shoved under the anti-science label, for the same reasons.
* Theodore Kaczynski, [[wikipedia:Ted Kaczynski|better known as the Unabomber]], took this trope too literally.
* One of the many things the Khmer Rouge killed people for was being educated. They wanted a technology-free society, and they pretty much got one--completeone—complete with rampant disease, starvation, and getting their asses ''stomped'' by neighboring Vietnam.
* [[Nicolas Gomez Davila|Nicolás Gómez Dávila]], the Colombian philosopher, believed [http://don-colacho.blogspot.com/2010/01/technique-technology.html wholeheartedly] in this.
* [[Taoism]] is, as ever, paradoxical. On one hand, its focus in material immortality through Alchemy and the workings of Nature led to many progresses in Chemistry, Medicine and related fields. On the other hand, phylosophical Taoism believes strongly in Harmony (the principle of ''wu wei'', without ado) in the [[Harmony Versus Discipline]] conflict, also believing that human knowledge is inherently limited and flawed (down to the very tool used to disseminate it, language), and thus prone to messing the true order of the Cosmos.
** Taoism, as with all ancient advice, is very vulnerable to misinterpretation. The flowery wordplay and metaphors of the ancient sages if anything only make it more-so. However, the underlying message is basically just Ockham's Razor, which isn't particularly anti-science NOR paradoxical. What Taoism is against is redundant complexity.
* There is a little bit of [[Fridge Horror]] when you realize that science actually needs conflict to develop. Most of the major advancements mankind made were either made for war initially, or put to use in war later. One real life example was [[World War 2]], where the horrible acts by the Nazis and Japanese actually advanced medical science, and we probably would not have nuclear power plants or sources of energy if it were not for the atomic bombs. These are only two examples on a very long list.
* This became all but an acknowledged policy of the American Republican Party in the post-[[Donald Trump|Trump]] era, born in part out of Trump's initial refusal to acknowledge the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] as anything but a "liberal hoax" and later turning practically all measures intended to help slow the disease into tools of a cultural and political war against the Middle and Left. This inevitably merged with pre-existing anti-vaccine and Fundamentalist Christian anti-evolution groups, as well as expanding a growing party antipathy toward education in general (for example, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/10/gop-lawmaker-said-us-should-get-rid-colleges-being-liberal-breeding-grounds Tennessee state senator Kerry Roberts in 2019 declaring he wanted to shut down colleges and universities in his state for being "liberal breeding grounds"]), until the Republican party was openly courting fringe groups whose tenets made them useful for supporting party goals.
 
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