From Nick Murza
It is a shame that the word “irrational” has attracted such connotations of
idiocy and ignorance, as well as the intolerant contempt of those who believe
themselves to be possessors of a great rational “truth”. Although a devout
atheist, I nonetheless believe that Prince Charles has touched on a valid point:
that without holding anything “sacred” on an emotional and “irrational” level,
any limits we impose on biotechnology—and science as a whole—through
committees and regulation will be quickly eroded.
Repeated exposure to previously unthinkable ideas through an insatiable media
inevitably numbs public objections. Long gone is the past stability of a
monolithic set of social values that the prince surely hankers after. We live in
an era where anything goes—or at least if it doesn’t today, it surely will
tomorrow.
Society needs to decide what sort of world we want future generations to live
in: whether we want to use science as a tool, or be controlled by it through an
obsession with statistically verifiable “truths”. Prince Charles may speak in
terms of God, but irrationality and a lack of control is what makes most of life
worth living.
Nottingham
