The movie “The Fly” was
entertaining for me on several levels. First, it was surprising that a
movie shot in 1958 could be so captivating in its mysterious plot. The movie
starts with a murder and it is engaging, as a viewer, to find exactly what the
reason is behind the alleged murderer Helen’s obsession with flies and what it
had to do with the case. Secondly, it was interesting for me to explore the realms
of science that transcend current human comprehension to this very day. It was
great to have even the remotest insight into how teleportation, the
destruction and reconstruction of atoms, can be performed.
One of Bertrand Russell’s
definitions of wisdom concerns comprehension. The comprehensive aspect of
wisdom is all about the ability to look into the possible consequences and
ramifications of one’s actions in the future. This same principle applies to
technology and society as well. Wisdom is different from knowledge as one can
be extremely intellectual yet lack the wisdom to make ethical and morally
upright decisions with what he has learned. In the movie, we can say that the
character Andre, despite being a genius, lacked wisdom because he was so caught
up in being on the brink of a bio-molecular breakthrough discovery, that he did
not take all the safety precautions to make sure that experimentation would not
harm the subject. In effect, an atrocity was made in the lab.
Morality here is an ordinance of
wisdom. If scientists are unable to foresee the damage their technologies may
bring, then they will be unable to make the correct, moral and ethical
decisions with what they know. This message reflects well with science and
technology in the 50s as many inventions at the time were being developed that
could be dangerous if not properly dealt with. Such inventions involved rocket
fuels and hydrogen, atomic and nuclear bombs.
Redentor E. Claudio
2013-59776
Redentor E. Claudio
2013-59776
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