Science Is Bad: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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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 [[Aesop]] of the [[Anime]] ''[[Blue Gender]]'' is that humanity should never have advanced beyond an agricultural society.

* Same for ''[[Earth Maiden Arjuna]]''.

* 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.)

* ''[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."

* [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed Richards and Doctor Doom]] can be viewed as symbolizing technology's potential for good or evil, depending on who is wielding it and for what purpose.

** Reed's a perfect example, as he's often protrayed as the most cold and calculating of the [[Fantastic Four]]. For instance, during the [[Civil War (Comic Book)|superhero civil war]], he designed an extradimensional prison camp to hold his fellow superheroes because cold logic told him that forced superhuman registration was the only way to avoid an armageddon-level disaster. None of the less scientifically-minded members of the team could stand to be a part of it, and Sue - the conscience of the team - eventually convinced him that it was better to essentially be nice and hope for the best than to be mean for a good reason.

 

 

== Fan Fiction ==

 

 

== Film ==

** 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.

* 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.]]

* 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]].

* ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' inverts this. The reformed Dr. Frankenstein is forced by evil [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. Pretorius to return to his old ways. The twist: Early on, Pretorious shows us his collection of tiny humans in glass jars, practically announcing that he's Mephistopheles. To this, Frankenstein replies, horrified, "This isn't science!" Here, sane Science Is Good, and has standards, but Magic Is Bad.

* ''[[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?

* 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.

* In ''[[Rocky IV]]'' the cold, emotionless Russian boxe 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.

 

* 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.

** 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.

* ''[[Oryx and Crake]]'' has more than a hint of this.

* Every book by [[Michael Crichton]], [[Misaimed Fandom|a good deal of which got a lot of people interested in science]]. Crichton himself averts this trope in that he was a big ''proponent'' of science and more science education. Chrichton's point is generally more along the lines of science is good if used for something like feeding people or helping the sick, i.e. something benign and obvious. But like anything one must also have the common sense to use it with ''restraint''. Being "pro-science" is one thing, not having the two brain cells needed to stop and say "Gee, I wonder if something could go wrong if we genetically engineer dinosaurs?" is another.

* 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

* 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]].

* Most movie versions of H.G. Wells' ''[[The Time Machine]]'' (as stated in the Film section) emphasize the evils of technology versus a pastoral existence, but neglect his central thesis: [[Aesop|the alienation of the working class resulting in an elite that neither knows nor cares how the comfort in which it lives is produced]]. Wells, a socialist, was not arguing against technology but against the exploitation of the working class in Victorian England. Indeed, most of Wells' body of work, especially ''The Shape Of Things To Come'', is very ''pro''-science and technology, focusing more on how humanity must mature socially in step with its scientific progress.

* In [[Aleksandr Mazin]]'s ''[[Time For Change]]'' duology, nature itself follows this trope, with catastrophes striking out against many types of scientific research in a seemingly unrelated manner. For example, the first recorded catastrophe was a massive tsunami that flooded New York. The link was an attempt by NASA to see if it is possible to give birth in orbit. After that, the International Committee for Prevention of Illegal Scientific Research (AKA Aladdin) is created in order to enforce the ban. They recruit the scientists and soldiers and equip them with the latest technology allowed by law. They become so powerful that only a few nations can go against them, including Russia, China, and possibly US.

** In the second novel, ''The Morning of Judgment Day'', the Chinese defy the ban and launch a manned mission to [[The Red Planet|Mars]]. During a historic speech televised throughout the world, another catastrophe hits, causing any Chinese-speaking person listening to the broadcast to go deaf. The protagonist's father parallels this to the Tower of Babel part of [[The Bible]], where man attempts to reach the heavens, and suggests that humans may have to stay on Earth for good.

* 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.

** 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.

** 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, [[AI 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]]!

* 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.

* ''[[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.

** 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 />

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** 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]].

** In ''Werewolf'', the PCs are basically shapechanging super-powered eco-terrorists.

** The Glass Walkers, a technophiliac tribe of the Garou Nation are held in contempt by most of the rest of the tribes, and called "urrah". And towards the end of the gameline, it shifted so fault for the world lay more heavily upon the Weaver, who was the one who drove the Wyrm mad and has plans to calcify all reality. The Glass Walkers are regarded by the other Garou tribes as hopelessly naive about the Weaver.

** In ''Mage'', it's not so much that technology is bad as it is that people are taught that technology is the only way; in this world, [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|reality is what people believe]], and believing there's no such thing as monsters or magic goes a long way to protect humans from the aforementioned shapechanging super-powered eco-terrorists and other supernatural beings out to victimize humanity. Unfortunately, this leads to [[Utopia Justifies the Means|giving up creativity and magic]]. Happily, as a counterexample proving that Science itself is not bad, we have the [[Weird Science|Etherites]] and [[Playful Hacker|Virtual Adepts]], and most members of the Technocratic Union (the main antagonists) are perfectly decent people who just happen to be on the wrong side from the players' point of view.

* 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]]".

 

 

* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' inverts this as technology is neutral and it's actually ''magic'' that's screwing with the natural order.

* Frequently a side plot of many ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games, though never played straight.

*** 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}}.

* 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.

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'' the most prominent case is Doctor Lesko, a wannabe [[Mad Scientist]] who {{spoiler|created the fire ants that destroyed Grayditch}} in an experiment [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. Despite this, the game makes it clear that Lesko is merely careless, not evil, and [[Science Hero|science-oriented players]] have the opportunity to lecture on him on proper experimental procedure.

** The New California Republic has scientists working round-the-clock trying to solve their power, food, and water problems.

** This is also one of the teachings of Caesar, who believe that technology led to the decadence of the old world, prohibiting any weapons that do not require infantry and medicine beyond tribal remedies (stating that those who depend on such are weak and deserved to be culled). {{spoiler|Of course, [[Hypocrite|Caesar himself has an Auto-Doc for his brain tumor and is willing to take Arcade Gannon as a physician]].}}

* ''[[Crystalis]]'' takes place 100 years after a nuclear war ends civilization. Since then, the people have abandoned science in favor of magic.

* 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''.

* [[Resident Evil]]: Science and evil are like best pals in the Resident Evil universe. Most, if not all, the troubles in the series are caused by groups of power hungry scientists who think it's a novel idea to use the T and G-Virus to create unstable monstrosities with a likelihood of things going wrong being above 105%. There is not one good scientist in the entire series and major villains like Albert Wesker and Alexia Ashford are the results of genetic engineering to create the ultimate super-being.

** Doubly so by the fact that the scientiests who started the research and are responsible for all the horror, are also the founders and owners of the company, so they can't get away with the usual "the man used my work for evil" excuse.

* In ''[[Alpha Centauri]]'', the science-based faction of the University of Planet has an increased number of drones due to 'unethical research'. The fundamentalist faction also rails against the (unrighteous) use of technology, though their leader Miriam is not a Luddite, rather fearing that humanity will lose control of their creations.

{{quote| '''Sister Miriam:''' The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of human progress. Though the song of yesterday fades into the challenge of tomorrow, God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil. }}

* ''[[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]]'' 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.

** [[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]].

 

* 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]!

** 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".

 

== Western Animation ==

** Having said that, one Planeteer Alert encourages viewers to learn more about science, since science can be used for good.

** Another episode showed a similar mob set to burn Principal Skinner at the stake for insisting that the earth revolves around the sun.

** In the episode "Bart's Comet", when the eponymous comet burns up in Springfield's polluted atmosphere instead of destroying the town as predicted, Moe shouts "Let's go burn down the observatory so this never happens again!" Cue the angry mob.

* Delightfully parodied in any episode of ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'' where they feature B-Movie star Oxnard Montalvo. ("The crawling spleen has grown an opposable thumb!")

** 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...?

* 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.

* ''[[The Tick]]'' 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!<br />