Description

Reason and scientific method give us our only certain knowledge of the world. Science has led to an escalating development of technologies that have increased our control over nature and our own destiny and it promises us a future in which there will be perpetual progress. We are becoming the architects of our own future evolution for whom nothing is impossible. Information technology will erase the borders between nations and make the global wealth of information available to all nations. Biotechnology will unravel the remaining mysteries of our DNA and the workings of the brain and make us more intelligent, keep us youthful, healthy and, perhaps, immortal.

Origin

The scientific revolution began, roughly, in the 16th century, when Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, which destroyed the notion that Earth was the center of the cosmos. Gradually the habit of observation, measurement, theory and experiment evolved into what we now call the scientific method, and dogmatic religion and superstition were replaced by a reason. By the early 19th century, scientific knowledge led to the creation of new technologies --the steam and internal combustion engines--that changed the face of the world. Obviously, the exponential progress in the invention of more elaborate and revolutionary technologies has continued in every field.

Impact

Positive impacts.
Science and technology have made life more comfortable and predictable for many, have given us a wealth of information, and have created a revolution in medicine that has increased our life-span. Negative impacts. Every new technology creates unanticipated problems. Our assumption that human beings have the right to use and manipulate the resources and creatures of the natural world for our profit and pleasure has led us to believe we are special creatures set apart from nature. This arrogant attitude has led to an ecological crisis that threatens our future on the planet and leaves us with a feeling of cosmic loneliness.

Science and technology are the gods and demons of our age. We look to them to give us meaning and to create a more abundant and carefree future. Paradoxically, technology was supposed to make our lives more leisurely but it has forced us to go faster and faster. To the speedy belong the spoils, and the stress.
Generation after generation, scientists have also made our lives more dangerous, giving us yet more deadly weapons of mass destruction--nuclear, chemical, biological, electronic and conventional weapons that we lack the political and moral capacity to control.

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