The Good Man In Ira Levin's The Dark Side Of Science

A staple of the horror genre has always been that of the mad scientist. From H.G. Wells ' Dr. Moreau to the more recent ideas of Dr. Josef Mengele in Ira Levin 's 1976 novel, The Boys From Brazil, these and other fictitious1 scientist 's dreams and schemes generate nothing but pure evil while running unrestricted and unaccountable, wreaking havoc upon humanity, with the ultimate result of the scientist receiving the recompense of his reward. Heather Douglas indulges herself with this fiction in her paper "The Dark Side of Science," which was published in The Scientist and reprinted in The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. She emotionally postulates that scientists should share a degree of accountability for the intentions and outcomes of their scientific discoveries, regardless of whether those present intentions and future outcomes are good- or ill-willed. Heather uses the …show more content…
That there is no basic goodness in man seems to be the core of her idea. Putting Douglas ' ideas into action sounds akin to a dreary, dystopian society in some alternate universe where people are held accountable for the actions of others. On the other hand, it has always been my belief that wherever evil men have risen, a good man has come along to stand against that evil: Neville Chamberlain2 and the British Commonwealth rose up to oppose Hitler 's invasion of Poland, Alexander McKelway rose up against child labor leading to the creation of the United States Children 's Bureau and the passing of the Keating-Owen Act, Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks rose up (metaphorically in Ms. Parks ' case) against unfair and evil practices against their gender and race, respectively. While Ms, Douglas may look to the origin for the place to lay blame, those who seek to use science and technology for their own nefarious ends will always find