Chapter 16: When scientists know sin

[Taylor]

Ant wrote:
I like this chapter, particularly his discussion about Edward Teller and nuclear proliferation.

I agree, Teller comes off as a real piece of work.

I'm putting this paragraph here because I think it has real value to the thread record.

"Teller advocated exploding nuclear weapons from Alaska to South Africa, to dredge harbors and canals, to obliterate troublesome mountains, to do heavy earth-moving. When he proposed such a scheme to Queen Frederika of Greece, she is said to have responded, "Thank you Dr. Teller, but Greece has enough quaint ruins already." Want to test Einstein's general relativity? Then explode a nuclear weapon on the far side of the Sun, Teller proposed. Want to understand the chemical composition of the moon? Then fly a hydrogen bomb to the Moon, explode it, and examine the spectrum of the flash and fireball. Also in the 1980's, Teller sold President Ronald Reagan the notion of Star Wars- called by them the "Strategic Defense Initiative," SDI. Reagan seems to have believed a highly imaginative story of Teller's that it was possible to build a desk-sized orbiting hydrogen-bomb-driven X-ray laser that would destroy 10,000 Soviet warheads in flight, and provide genuine protection for the citizens of the United States in case of global thermonuclear war."

This is the one area of the book so-far that I get a sense of CS being derisive, justly so, if my sense is correct.

[Penelope]

Teller does sound like quite a stereotype, Mad Scientist, desregarding humanity for the sake of scientific knowledge. Rather like the Gestapo carrying out all of those horrific medical experiments on the Jews in concentration camps.

Fortunately, not all scientists are single-minded wretches.

But Richard Feynman was a very lovable personality.....a bit naughty in his private life....but not sinful (unless you were a puritan)...and very joyous.


Stephen Hawking is a wondrous example of how ones mind can make you joyous in spite of the body's afflictions.

It looks like deep thinkers on philosophical matters end up as miserable old grumps who condemn themselves for their imperfections, and speculate on how we should perceive reality, but scientists forget themselves completely and find joy in learning through proof, not speculation.

I think it is as well to walk a middle road between the two.

[ant]

But Richard Feynman was a very lovable personality.....a bit naughty in his private life....but not sinful (unless you were a puritan)...and very joyous.

Actually, he was more than a "bit naughty"
He sexually harassed women.