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Part VII: Science, the Environment, and the Future |
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The three topics that are linked in the title of this section interact in powerful ways. As we look to the future of our culture, we rely on the one hand upon the natural environment in which we live, and on the other upon our ability to manipulate and mold that environment to our own needs through science. Balancing one with the other and choosing among the varying visions of the future make for a great deal of speculation—and so forms important topics for our writing.
As we look toward the future, many are fearful of the effects of such recent technologies as the Internet and genetic engineering as well as the loss of the human element as a result of increased automation. This fear takes many forms: the loss of identity, the destruction of nature, and the subordination of human emotion to a larger vision of science and human progress. Many of the authors in this section express these and other allied fears.
Others, however, see the future as unbounded potential, viewing science as the vehicle through which human beings can reach it. These authors suggest that fear of progress largely holds us back from significant achievements and that nostalgia glorifies a past we never really had—that it idealizes the past at the expense of the future.
And still others ask questions about science’s domination by males, wondering why so few women are part of the traditions of science, how to bring women into scientific fields, and what new perspectives and discoveries might accompany the widening of scientific inquiry to include the influence of both genders.
These debates, which form the bases of the readings in this section, are fraught with possibilities for you as a writer. As you read the included works, your job is to weigh their merit, listen to their various visions of the future, and respond with your own perspectives on the future ahead.
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