"One of the most disconcerting issues of our time lies in the fact that modern science, along with miracle drugs and communications satellites, has also produced nuclear bombs. What makes it even worse, science has utterly failed to provide an answer on how to cope with them. As a result, science and scientists have often been blamed for the desperate dilemma in which mankind finds itself today. Science, all by itself, has no moral dimension. The same poison-containing drug which cures when taken in small doses, may kill when taken in excess. The same nuclear chain reaction that produces badly needed electrical energy when harnessed in a reactor, may kill thousands when abruptly released in an atomic bomb. Thus it does not make sense to ask a biochemist or a nuclear physicist whether his research in the field of toxic substances or nuclear processes is good or bad for mankind. In most cases the scientist will be fully aware of the possibility of an abuse of his discoveries, but aside from his innate scientific curiosity he will be motivated by a deep-seated hope and belief that something of value for his fellow man may emerge from his labors. The same applies to technology, through which most advances in the natural sciences are put to practical use."
— Science

Quote Details

Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Science
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
English (Original)

Sources

Wernher von Braun, Responsible Scientific Investigation and Application (1976), address delivered to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, as published in Hans Ober Hess (ed.) The Nature of a Humane Society: A Symposium on the Bicentennial of the United States of America (1977), p. 97. Variants: — "Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently." — Robert B. Seidensticker, Futur

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Science

Revision History

No revisions have been submitted for this quote.

  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Science
  4. /
  5. Quote by Science

Categories

Science

Science

428 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Science →

Related Quotes

"If the author is so interested in Science, why doesn't she take a course in it?"
— Science
Science
"People keep saying "science doesn't know everything!" Well, science "knows" it doesn't know everything; otherwise it …"
— Science
Science
"But in practical affairs, particularly in politics, men are needed who combine human experience and interest in human…"
— Science
Science
"Your worship is your furnaces, Which, like old idols, lost obscenes, Have molten bowels; your vision is Machines for …"
— Science
Science
"L'Art est fait pour troubler, la Science rassure."
— Science
Science
"Science, by itself, has no moral dimension. The drug which cures when taken in small doses may kill when taken in exc…"
— Science
Science
"We're science: we're all about coulda, not shoulda!"
— Science
Science
"Pursued one-sidedly, science confines our glance to the immediate, tangible, certain result. It turns the mind away f…"
— Science
Science
"All models are wrong; some models are useful."
— Science
Science
"Magic may be more romantic than science. But science is honest…and it works."
— Science
Science
HomePopularAdd Quote
Add Quote
HomePopularWorksQuotesAuthorsCATEGORIES
RECENTLY ADDED

Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.

- Gopal Mukund Huddar

Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.

- Gopal Mukund Huddar

Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.

- Gopal Mukund Huddar

I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.

- Gopal Mukund Huddar

By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.

- Gopal Mukund Huddar

CATEGORIES
Novelists From The United States29258Thema28471Academics From The United States273392000s American Films18689Person17672