If I Should Wake Before I Die


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Episode #89
Aired 1949-02-27
Length: 28:07
Size: 6.43 MB

One of the world's top scientists is in his laboratory. He's thoroughly engrossed in his work. Some of his discoveries have already vastly altered the world, but he doesn't care. He doesn't seek to change the world, he does research for the sake of research. He experiments just to see what he can learn. Increasing humanity's knowledge is the one and only goal, with possible applications of the work being unimportant.

Much of the scientist's work is in developing more and more destructive weapons, but to consider the ways people might use the inventions would tarnish the intellectual purity of his work. He finds the equations beautiful, and scoffs at the notion that he should feel responsible for the ways other people may misuse his research to cause harm. Application is irrelevant, experimentation and discovery is what matters.

It quickly becomes clear that the world is reaching a crucial point. It's a point at which humanity faces a seemingly unstoppable chain of inventions, new technologies that could destroy the world. Research, experimentation, progress, and just adding to the sum total of human knowledge can become dangerous and unwise.

I am a practical man.
the scientist

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