Science Is Bad: Difference between revisions

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.

 

 

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.

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.

 

 

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.]]

* 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'']]

* 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

** 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.

* ''[[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.

** 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.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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—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.

* 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]].