Here’s a list. Read through it without any expectations. Then, as they say, “We’ll talk.”
Not one of these studies will change the world by itself. You will still need to buy bread, milk, and eggs. You will still have to go to work, rear kids, pay the bills. But in the background of human civilization, there are those who see some significance in these detailed studies. They believe they can reveal something that will eventually lead to a better world, maybe not immediately, but sometime, possibly long after they are gone. Sure, publishing is a required practice among academics, but researchers choose research topics because they believe they are onto something important, if only important in their fields of study.
And then there are the terrorists, the dictators, and the anarchists. Like you, they might not be interested in the specifics of the topics in the list. But there is probably a major difference in the disinterests. You are willing to let the process of research continue in all directions because there is a chance that one of these studies will lead to a breakthrough in either understanding or useful practices. Maybe, for example, the study of bone marrow adipocytes will lead eventually to an elimination of bone cancer; maybe the study by Darr and others will lead to the discovery of how life formed in an abiotic early Earth or on some distant world, and maybe the examination of data from the COBE satellite will lead to an understanding of creation. We don’t know at this time, but possibly down the road of further research we or our children will know.
The crime against humanity that the World Court should prosecute is that by anyone who threatens curiosity. A threat, for example, by an oligarchy or dictator against a civilized nation whose denizens include those doing research into matters that might lead to understanding or improvement of the human condition, is an attack on hope and purpose. Without either, we humans are somewhat desperate creatures.
That one country’s leaders threaten another country’s citizens isn’t in an interconnected world a limited threat. It’s a threat against the future. Those who work to find cures, those who work to develop useful technologies, those who work to pave the way for greater understanding are all threatened by fanatics with the power to destroy.
In self-obsession, those who threaten condemn their own offspring to a life with discoveries never made, cures never found, and technologies never developed. But, of course, self-obsession, hatred, and short-sightedness prevent long-term vision. That there are cell researchers in the Middle East, physicists in China and India, chemists in America, and epidemiologists in western African countries seems to mean little to those who threaten the facilities and lives of people going about the business of furthering that which might diminish the harshness of life. Throughout the civilized world there are people whose efforts might just lead to an overall improvement in the human condition. No one knows which of those researchers will discover that which will enhance life.
Destruction that derives from self-obsession is a chief threat not only to individuals, but also to the species.
What will future Iranians gain from their country's constant call for the destruction of Israel? What will future N. Koreans gain from their dictator's call for the destruction of the USA? What will anyone gain from wanton destruction of the West by terrorists? You, of course, understand the nature of the threat, that a threat in the present is a threat to the future. Those who threaten can't see the full consequences of their threats and actions.
- Fixsen, D.J., et al., The cosmic microwave background spectrum from the full COBE FIRAS data set, The Astrophysical Journal, 1996.
- Zhou, Bo O., et al., Bone marrow adipocytes promote the regeneration of stem cells and haematopoiesis by secreting SCF, Nature Cell Biology, 2017.
- Darr, Jawwad A., et al., Continuous hydrothermal synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles: Applications and future directions, Chemical Review, 2017.
Not one of these studies will change the world by itself. You will still need to buy bread, milk, and eggs. You will still have to go to work, rear kids, pay the bills. But in the background of human civilization, there are those who see some significance in these detailed studies. They believe they can reveal something that will eventually lead to a better world, maybe not immediately, but sometime, possibly long after they are gone. Sure, publishing is a required practice among academics, but researchers choose research topics because they believe they are onto something important, if only important in their fields of study.
And then there are the terrorists, the dictators, and the anarchists. Like you, they might not be interested in the specifics of the topics in the list. But there is probably a major difference in the disinterests. You are willing to let the process of research continue in all directions because there is a chance that one of these studies will lead to a breakthrough in either understanding or useful practices. Maybe, for example, the study of bone marrow adipocytes will lead eventually to an elimination of bone cancer; maybe the study by Darr and others will lead to the discovery of how life formed in an abiotic early Earth or on some distant world, and maybe the examination of data from the COBE satellite will lead to an understanding of creation. We don’t know at this time, but possibly down the road of further research we or our children will know.
The crime against humanity that the World Court should prosecute is that by anyone who threatens curiosity. A threat, for example, by an oligarchy or dictator against a civilized nation whose denizens include those doing research into matters that might lead to understanding or improvement of the human condition, is an attack on hope and purpose. Without either, we humans are somewhat desperate creatures.
That one country’s leaders threaten another country’s citizens isn’t in an interconnected world a limited threat. It’s a threat against the future. Those who work to find cures, those who work to develop useful technologies, those who work to pave the way for greater understanding are all threatened by fanatics with the power to destroy.
In self-obsession, those who threaten condemn their own offspring to a life with discoveries never made, cures never found, and technologies never developed. But, of course, self-obsession, hatred, and short-sightedness prevent long-term vision. That there are cell researchers in the Middle East, physicists in China and India, chemists in America, and epidemiologists in western African countries seems to mean little to those who threaten the facilities and lives of people going about the business of furthering that which might diminish the harshness of life. Throughout the civilized world there are people whose efforts might just lead to an overall improvement in the human condition. No one knows which of those researchers will discover that which will enhance life.
Destruction that derives from self-obsession is a chief threat not only to individuals, but also to the species.
What will future Iranians gain from their country's constant call for the destruction of Israel? What will future N. Koreans gain from their dictator's call for the destruction of the USA? What will anyone gain from wanton destruction of the West by terrorists? You, of course, understand the nature of the threat, that a threat in the present is a threat to the future. Those who threaten can't see the full consequences of their threats and actions.
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