In a speech Wednesday night, Government Professor Roger Masters warned of the dangers of abusing technology and called for members of both science and social science to work together on how science should be used.
Projecting scenarios for the future, Masters warned the development of technology in spheres such as genetic engineering will force society to change nature however it wants, and society will move to change humans as well.
Masters said the natural language of humans is in "nonverbal behavior that seems to be undecodeable."
He said by nature the human species differs from other species, but also differs within.
Masters warned the idea of human control of nature is a very dangerous one in modern society, which is "on the brink" of controlling nature, given the technology humans possess.
One prospect Masters presented is the extinction of the human species. The other is the danger of "humans being made in factories: three-foot quasi-automated people to increase productivity."
"That would have endangered the species," he said. "We risk losing the capacity for wonder, science, love ... anger and conflict."
"We do not understand the fragility of our system enough to play these games," he added. "A study of history shows that civilizations collapsed because they took for granted what should not have been taken for granted."
Master's speech was sponsored by "Voices," a group which seeks to promote intellectual interaction between students and professors.
