[Peace-discuss] Absolute knowledge, lies, and delusion

[ppatton at uiuc.edu]

Published on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Science and Human Values: On the Road to Auschwitz
by Michael Gilmore
 

Hauntingly on target for the current administration in the 
White House are the words of Jacob Bronowski, the scientist-
philosopher who brought us his popular television series, The 
Ascent of Man, just thirty years ago.

He spoke the following words to the camera while standing in 
the human ashes at Auschwitz:

“There are two parts to the human dilemma. One is the belief 
that the end justifies the means. That push-button 
philosophy, that deliberate deafness to suffering, has become 
the monster in the war machine. The other is the betrayal of 
the human spirit: the assertion of dogma that closes the 
mind, and turns a nation, a civilisation, into a regiment of 
ghosts - obedient ghosts, or tortured ghosts.

It is said that science will dehumanize people and turn them 
into numbers. That is false, tragically false. Look for 
yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at 
Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. 
Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million 
people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by 
arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. 
When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with 
no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men 
do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.”

Then, returning home, he stated:

“We must not perish by the distance between people and 
government, between people and power...that distance can only 
be...closed, if knowledge sits in the homes and heads of 
people with no ambition to control others, and not up in the 
isolated seats of power.”

Watergate, and Vietnam were in the air as Bronowski spoke of 
science and civilization. Bronowski provided valuable 
perspective having lost family in the Holocaust, and having 
walked the ruins of Nagasaki shortly after the atomic bombing 
of that city in 1945. Bronowski worried about the direction 
we were taking toward pseudoscience as well as the integrity 
of science and government- the very problems we have right 
now.

Some in the White House today believe that they “have 
absolute knowledge, with no test in reality.” Why, God even 
talks to them. The administration’s “absolute knowledge” has 
been the basis of many of their claims, including: the 
weapons of mass destruction, the Hussein-al Qaeda link, the 
Hussein-9/11 link, and the evidence for the uranium from 
Africa to Iraq. Such “absolute knowledge” ensured that the 
Iraqi people would welcome our solders and establish a 
secular democracy. Such knowledge never existed. 
This “absolute knowledge” now provides for the Bush “faith-
based” missile defense, to be deployed prior to testing. It 
appears that this sort of pseudoknowledge is a key ingredient 
for much of what the present administration has set itself to 
do. With such “knowledge” the road to Baghdad is becoming our 
road to Auschwitz. A road paved with arrogance, dogma, 
secrecy, ignorance, lies, and a “deliberate deafness to 
suffering.” The suffering shown so starkly in the haunting 
photos of the torture at Abu Ghraib.

The administration’s patterns of behavior are counter to the 
core elements of our constitution: justice, liberty, church-
state separation, religious freedom, freedom of speech, the 
press, assembly, and privacy. These were placed there, in 
part, as bulwark against such political dangers as theocratic 
rule, deception, and lies. It seems the administration is the 
most secretive in our history. With such secrecy, it will not 
be easy for the people to plumb the depth to which we have 
been deceived.

The “absolute knowledge” of Bush and company is also central 
to the erosion of the integrity of science in the US. Leading 
scientists now see a pattern of distortion and suppression of 
science by top political appointees of Mr. Bush. This pattern 
involves a number of federal agencies and is corrupting the 
practice of good scientific counsel in government. Many areas 
of science have been impacted. They range from air pollution 
to reproductive health, and from drug development to stem 
cell research. The practice of international science is also 
taking a beating with mindless restrictions on the travel of 
scientists and science students. America has long 
been “science-central” for researchers across the globe. This 
has always been to America’s great benefit. But now America 
is becoming less hospitable to the international scientific 
community.

Government and science were once secretive activities 
controlled and funded by kings and cardinals. Being the 
political leaders of their day, they understood that 
knowledge is power. The Scientific Revolution and the 
American Revolution changed all that. It is no accident that 
the leaders of both these revolutions were strongly linked. 
In some cases they were the same individuals. Jefferson and 
Franklin considered themselves scientists. The Constitution 
and the Bill of Rights are rational agreements to keep 
information, indeed knowledge, free to all the people. Modern 
science is also done in the open, published for all to see. 
It is open to examination for accuracy, error, and truth. Our 
form of government and our science are self-correcting 
processes. They are both designed with the idea that we are 
fallible and that there is no absolute knowledge.

Corrupting the truth, corrupting government, and corrupting 
science have much in common. Such crimes are done in secret, 
and are done with lies. The current administration is doing 
this with considerable zeal. What a tragedy if we choose 
lies, dogma, secrecy, and superstition. They are the 
cobblestones for the road to Abu Ghraib, the road to 
Auschwitz, the road to hell.

Near the end of his television program, Bronowski stated “We 
are nature’s unique experiment to make the rational 
intelligence prove itself sounder than the reflex.” This 
means, contrary to Mr. Bush, that we think with our brains, 
and not with our gut. That we use introspection, that we have 
doubts, that we change our minds, that we admit error, and 
that we tell the truth. These are critical human values. 
These are the values vital to the best administration of our 
Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our science.

Mr. Bush, you might be surprised to learn that Bronowski, an 
agnostic Jew, chose your favorite philosopher, Jesus Christ, 
as a primary hero of that "age-old conflict between 
intellectual leadership and civil authority." This is the 
very conflict that I write of here, today. Well, Mr. Bush, 
what would Jesus do? You might find his “tortured ghost” at 
Abu Ghraib, and ask him. You might also find the ghost of 
Jacob Bronowski, still standing in human ashes, beseeching 
you to think it possible that you are mistaken.

Michael Gilmore (mrgilmore at mac.com), a physicist who has 
worked on the space program, is a Fellow of the British 
Interplanetary Society.

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__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Research Scientist
Beckman Institute  Rm 3027  405 N. Mathews St.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  Urbana, Illinois 61801
work phone: (217)-265-0795   fax: (217)-244-5180
home phone: (217)-344-5812
homepage: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ppatton/index.html

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science."
-Albert Einstein
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