DO YOU THINK CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WILL BRING OUR GLOBAL SOCIETY TO A WORLD CRISIS ANALOGOUS TO THAT FOUND IN MILLER’S CANTICLE?

DO YOU THINK CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WILL BRING OUR GLOBAL SOCIETY TO A WORLD CRISIS ANALOGOUS TO THAT FOUND IN MILLER’S CANTICLE?

Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a science fiction novel. Its central theme is cyclic history meaning that the events that occur in the novel repeat themselves in real life. In the Canticle, Miller mentions that a crisis is a disagreement between religious and political concepts. According to Miller, the Church feared that enlightened people. The Enlightenment and Civilization period scared the Church because curious youths would question the existing religious system using political arguments.[1] Despite the Church’s interference, Miller thinks that science and technology are related to religion. Two essential subjects that reinforce the central theme are the “Flame Deluge” and “A Great Simplification,” both of which confirm that science will one day create a crisis that is analogous with Miller’s Canticle.

Crisis in the Canticle

            Miller and other scholars who critique him believe that the misunderstanding between religion and science causes a world crisis. According to Miller, the Church wanted to be very relevant during the Rennaissance by oppressing thinkers/scientists. Due to the freedom of thinking, Miller opposed several Catholic opinions in the 1940s. According to the church, thinking encouraged the emergence of extremist views. Therefore, promoting the freedom of thinking would interfere with the Church’s ability to make decisions on behalf of people.

Science, Technology, and Religion

            Flame Deluge is about science and religion. Andrew Ravensdale describes Walter Miller as  a rational thinker who integrates the concept of the “Original Sin” with the “Holocaust.”[2] In essence, “The Fall of Rome” is a sign that shows that every sin has a consequence. Therefore, people cannot hide in religion, thinking that salvation will save their souls from the holocaust. Miller views human life as a flash of living in a period of darkness and light instead of seeing it from a sacred perspective.[3] Thus, everyone must prepare for the consequence of his or her actions.

Miller was one of the thinkers who were vocal during the Reformation and the Rennaissance. During the period, the State-supported science while the Church represented religion and spirituality. Occasionally, Miller uses both theological and scientific approaches to solve evil. Miller believes that a world crisis occurred because religious leaders could not understand the ethics of science. Therefore, religion quickly assumes that science is sinful because it promotes euthanasia and abortion surface.[4] Miller believed that if religious leaders understood science, they would know that a holocaust was inevitable, and no form of salvation could save anyone. Even in the Bible, sin is punishable, and the holocaust will come. Andrew Ravensdale advances Miller’s thoughts by confirming that a small difference exists between science and religion.[5] The only problem is that the Church wants to remain powerful, even as the State holds an influential position. Science and technology will bring the global society to a world crisis analogous to that found in Miller’s Canticle if the two continually disagree with religion.

Crisis in Science and Technology

            There is a crisis in science and technology because knowledge is not simplified. According to Gale, the “Great Simplification” is about the criticism of scientific knowledge because most people do not take time to learn it.[6] Therefore, they cannot understand science. For example, most religious leaders quickly conclude that science is evil. They do not realize that advancements in science and technology provide solutions to several people across the world, making it difficult to conceive the existence of a crisis caused by the two. Science and technology have a long history of solving some of the worst medical disasters.[7] The only problem is that the same science and technology can cause conflicts when they disagree with religious institutions.[8] They could also cause a crisis when they create more problems than solutions. Without significant simplification, nobody can understand the positive impacts of genetic engineering and trial vaccines. Without knowledge, everyone will also demonize nuclear energy because they can only associate it with weapons of mass destruction. Gale encourages people to read “A Great Simplification” to understand how science works with technology to solve problems.[9] From a religious perspective, anything that saves humanity is good.

Genetic Engineering and Cosmetic Surgeries

            Genetic engineering is a controversial subject when it proposes the selection of preferred genes in non-medical procedures. However, it can create life too. Due to genetic engineering, parents can determine their children’s physical attributes, intelligence, and capabilities as they eliminate any inheritable anomalies. In Miller’s novel, simple scientific procedures that would rationally help humanity caused conflicts. One of them was Dr. Cors’ permission seeking from Abbot Zerchi to set up the refugee treatment facility using the monastery. Even though the alleviation of human suffering was top of the list, Zerchi Dr. Cors had to eliminate radiation processes.[10] In Miller’s novel, his wife underwent tubal ligation in 1951 long after their divorce to get a child. The procedure created an ethical dilemma, which still surfaces in genetic engineering as some parents seek IVF treatments to conceive. Scientific advancements in areas of genetic engineering and cosmetic surgery receive a similar level of societal backlash. Nonetheless, rational beings take time to justify the moral and realistic standpoints of gene engineering and cosmetic surgeries. From Canticle, when such procedures cause harm, then they are sinful.

Trial Drugs and Vaccines

            Trial vaccines are very controversial, yet extremely critical to the survival of human generations. Sometimes trial medications and vaccines go wrong, but when they lead to treatment, then the procedures are ethical/spiritual. During civilization, Miller notes that Catholicism aggressively intervened to determine the truth in the diagnosis of western maladies.[11] The neutrality of scientific procedures is necessary to ensure that the outcomes do not harm people. However, other institutions should not intervene to seek influence by promoting ethics, godliness, and conscience, yet their intentions have a low moral weight. Based on Miller’s argument, if a procedure reduces malformations and increases the chances of humans’ survival, then the Church should not interfere with science.[12]

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy can either create power or cause the production of weapons of mass destruction. To date, countries still scare others using scientific labs to develop biological, nuclear, and chemical weapons. In Miller’s novel, the Catholic Order political interference involved religion and science. Without simplification, political forces will control science, and countries will produce nuclear energy for the wrong purpose.[13]

Bibliography

Gale, Cengage Learning. n.d. Study guide for Walter m. miller jr.’s “a canticle for Leibowitz.”. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning. ^{6, 9, 13}

Miller Jr, Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Hachette UK, 2014. ^{3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12}

Ravensdale, Andrew. 2016. Flame deluge. Ravensdale and Co, ^{1, 2, 5}

[1] Ravensdale, Andrew. 2016. Flame deluge. Ravensdale and Co,

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Gale, Cengage Learning. n.d. Study guide for Walter m. miller jr.’s “a canticle for Leibowitz.”. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning.

[7] Ibid

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Ibid