SCIENCE AND ITS EFFECT

SCIENCE AND ITS EFFECT

One of the most striking features of the present century is the progress of science and its effect on almost every aspect of social life. Building on the foundations laid by the predecessors the sciences of today are carrying their in visitation into ever-widening fields of knowledge.

Modern civilization depends largely on the scientist and inventor. We depend on the doctor who seeks the cause and cure of disease, the chemist who analysis our food and our water, the entomologist who wages war on the insect pasts, the engineer who conquers time and space, and a host of other specialists who aid I the development of agriculture and industry.

The advance of science and technology has brought the different parts of the world into closer touch with one another than ever before. We are able to reach distant land within a very short time. We are also able to communicate with people far away by means of the telephone and the wireless. The invention of the printing machine has made it possible for us to learn from books and newspapers about people in other lands. Indeed, man’s curiosity and resourcefulness have been responsible for the steady stream of inventions that have created our civilization.

At the same time, however, there have been harmful effects. Our machine civilization is responsible for numerous accidents and industrial rivalries among nations. Everyday hundreds of people are dying from serious wounds and injuries. Further, the rapid tempo of modern life results in wide spread nervous disorder. Moreover, science, which has helped man to secure control over nature, has also made of possible for him to develop more deadly weapons of war. More and more countries are competing with one another in the production of war material. But in these instances the fault lies not with science, but rather with man’s intention to misuse the discoveries of science is admittedly the dominating intellectual force of the modern age.