Was Oppenheimer Evil? Neil DeGrasse Tyson Dissects Scientists 'Playing God'
At the heart of "Oppenheimer" is one of the greatest moral quandaries of modern times. The creation of the atomic bomb is arguably the most destructive act ever committed by mankind. However, since it was created as a desperate gambit during an all-or-nothing war with a fascist regime, many would suggest that creating and dropping the bomb was still the right thing to do, despite the enormous cost in human lives it inevitably constituted.
As recounted by Aglobotics, well-known scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss the many moral questions at the heart of this debate. While both sides made some strong points, Tyson ultimately argued that J. Robert Oppenheimer was not evil or immoral for creating the atomic bomb.
When Colbert approached the question of whether such knowledge is better left undiscovered, Tyson was clear that he doesn't view any scientific discovery as evil. "Do you know what [Oppenheimer] said in response to those kinds of questions? He said because people said, 'Have you usurped the power of God? Have you?' and he said, 'If God didn't want this power to be there, he shouldn't have put it in the atom in the first place,'" Tyson recalled.
Tyson argues that the moral weight is carried by the user of technology
Neil DeGrasse Tyson went on to make an analogy to the Iron Age and the creation of the sword. However, Stephen Colbert pivoted to something less clear-cut. "I'll step back from 'Don't make the sword.' How about 'Don't lick the flagpole in February?' You will learn something but at a price, Neil," Colbert said. The conversation between the two makes for a fascinating debate, with Colbert suggesting that some knowledge is too much for humanity to comprehend and Tyson suggesting that if we had a better-educated electorate, such scientific discoveries might not seem so big and scary to the general populace.
Tyson also put further emphasis on the decision of the person who uses a discovery rather than the person who creates it in the first place. "I don't want to blame the knowledge; I want to blame the behavior of people in the presence of the knowledge, so maybe we need better knowledge management," he suggested.
While Tyson and Colbert's talk may not necessarily sway either side of the debate around "Oppenheimer" and the creation of atomic weapons, it does provide a solid representation of the thought process on both sides of the argument and why the question is so highly debated in the first place.