PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 3, 2021

SCIENCE WITHOUT LOVE

Louise Penny in her newest Chief Inspector Gamache mystery, The Madness of Crowds, deals with the subject of scientific ethics.  Set in post-pandemic Canada, Gamache has been specifically requested to supply security for an address by Dr. Abigail Robinson at a University not far from Three Pines where he lives.  Trouble is anticipated because of the controversial nature of her talk.

Professor Robinson has done a statistical analysis of the pandemic and has come to the conclusion that there will be a shortage of resources world-wide.  There will simply not be enough to go around.  Her solution is to mercifully kill all the elderly, sick, handicapped, and disabled so that they will not be a drain on society.  While not specifically stated, her target group would also include the unborn who might exhibit any birth defects.  She justifies her conclusions on the basis of science and statistics.

Another example that Penny gives is some experiments done during the Cold War by a prominent Canadian psychiatrist, Ewen Cameron.  Using persons who had been referred to him for treatment at the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill University, Dr. Cameron used them for guinea pigs for experiments he was doing for the CIA and other government agencies.   His human subjects were subjected to being injected with LSD, having electricity shot through them while tied down, and forced to endure sleep deprivation. When he was through with his victims, he would send them home worse off than when they came and, to make matters, would send a bill for treatment.

In her book Penny suggests that science can go astray when it becomes a servant of those seeking power and control.  In chapter 26 Inspector says, “What people do for power.  How they’re willing to mutilate themselves, physically, intellectually, morally, for power and position. … I think some people would do just about anything, say just about anything, stay quiet about anything, to attain, then hold on to power” (p. 303). The implication is that even science can become an instrument for those seeking to hold on to power and that research, statistics, and conclusions can be molded to fit a political agenda.

In a discussion with Chief Inspector Gamache, Chancellor Colette Roberge observes that Professor Robinson’s statistics are morally abhorrent, but factually correct (p. 99). Louise Penny’s two examples are a reminder that science without a moral compass can become demonic. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians puts it this way, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (I Cor. 13:2)  History is filled with example after example of where science has gone down dark roads of inquiry that have led to experiments and research which were immoral and a stain on society.

Paul concludes his love chapter, I Corinthians 13, as follows: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (I Cor. 13:12, 13)  This week we have seen how science with love can become demonic.  Love is something that will see us through all of our life.

Next week I will be looking at how the scientific method can help us have an informed faith which will give us hope as we face the future with all of its uncertainties, twists and turns.  The following week I will be exploring the interrelatedness of science and music.