The Scientific Revolution has extended human life and advanced technology, but has it made everyone happier? Yuval Noah Harari points out that while scientific advances have benefited some, they have also caused misery for many people and creatures, prompting us to reflect on the meaning of true happiness.
Over the past few centuries, humans have made remarkable progress. We can now live to be over 100 years old, and we can communicate face-to-face with people on the other side of the world without ever meeting them in person. These things would have been unthinkable just 100 years ago. People say we are happier than people in previous eras because we are able to do things that were never possible before, and they talk about the endless possibilities that science will bring in the future. Humans have always prided themselves on being better than their predecessors because they are more advanced, but Yuval Noah Harari questions this in his book ‘ Homo sapiens ‘. Here’s an excerpt from the book
“Farmers had to work harder than hunter-gatherers, but the food they ate was less nutritious and they didn’t have enough of it, and they were far more exposed to disease and exploitation. Similarly, the expansion of European empires advanced technology and made crops more mobile. Europeans opened up new commercial routes, which greatly increased humanity’s collective power, but this was not good news for millions of Africans, Native Americans, and Aboriginal Australians.”
In Yuval Noah Harari’s view, even in this more prosperous future, not everyone will be happy, and even if some people are happier, others will be unhappier. So are we really happier than before? Has the scientific revolution brought greater happiness to humans, and what about the other creatures in our planet’s ecosystem?
Let’s look at humans first. The scientific revolution has reduced mortality rates, as mentioned above, and we’re inching closer to the immortality that humans have long aspired to. We’ve also been able to experience cultures from a much wider range of regions, and the wisdom gained from this has led to further advances in learning and research. New discoveries and novel inventions are being made, and the joy of learning has increased because of these experiences. Most humans are better fed, better clothed, and better off than ever before. But does this mean happiness, and are some people not happier than before?
Compared to farming and hunting in the past, the modern workday is much longer. People used to be able to rest for a few days after a hunting trip, and farmers used to take most of the winter off. Today, however, we spend more than 300 of the 365 days of the year working. Not only that, but the intensity of the workday has increased. In the past, people were mostly active during the day because nighttime represented danger, but with the development of electricity and light bulbs, we’re now forced to work at night instead of overcoming the darkness. Considering this, it would be hard to argue that we are really happier than before.
Next, let’s think about people who have not become happier despite scientific advances. Who are the people who have become unhappier as science has advanced? Two examples are the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australia. They were exploited for labor, plundered for supplies, and even killed by Europeans. Now, they are living in limited spaces away from their original lands. Their populations are dwindling, and soon their species may disappear. Given that the most important goal of any living organism is to preserve its species, this is clearly a disaster. There are also people who are unhappy because of the problems that scientific advances have created. For example, some people are victims of cybercrime or suffer from the side effects of new medical technologies. If they lived in the past, at least they wouldn’t have suffered these harms.
The same is true for war. There were wars in the past, but they weren’t on the same scale as today. Modern wars involve guns, tanks, nuclear weapons, and more, thanks to advances in science. World War II caused casualties and injuries on a scale never seen before, and the damage caused by nuclear weapons, in particular, is still being felt today in the form of radiation sickness and loss of land. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster still leaves the area off-limits. The same was true when dynamite was developed. It was a science that started out with good intentions, and it did indeed produce some useful results, but it also resulted in countless casualties in warfare. Even Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, regretted his invention. Even now, there are many technologies being researched with good intentions, but it’s impossible to predict whether they will be beneficial or harmful.
As you can see, the scientific revolution hasn’t necessarily brought us more happiness than before. However, there’s no denying that science has provided benefits to humans. However, it’s hard to say that the benefits are necessarily greater than before. What about other non-human life forms? Are the plants and animals that share the planet with us better off because of scientific advances?
Before we can answer this question, we must first consider how we define happiness for animals and plants. For humans, happiness can be translated into quality of life and satisfaction, but for animals and plants, this doesn’t apply. Animals have emotions, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll evaluate their happiness based on the most basic goal of all living things: the preservation and reproduction of the species.
First of all, in the case of plants, we can’t say that humans haven’t helped them. We’ve increased their numbers by spreading some seeds widely, and we’ve even genetically engineered them to be resistant to pests. But that’s just a few select crops. Countless other plants have gone extinct as humans have altered the Earth’s ecosystems. Many are still endangered today, and their survival would have been more beneficial if humans hadn’t destroyed them. In addition, important habitats like rainforests have been destroyed by development, which in turn has accelerated desertification. In the end, it can be argued that plants have lost more to the human scientific revolution than we have.
The same is true for animals. While some livestock and species like cockroaches and rats are thriving, most animals are on the verge of extinction. Animal testing and animal cruelty is also a serious problem, and it’s only recently that humans have begun to make efforts to protect them. But none of these problems would exist if humans hadn’t harmed animals in the first place.
Scientific advances have given us so much, but we must also recognize the side effects. The side effects of science have had a huge impact not only on humans, but also on animals and plants, and we should feel responsible for that. Animals and plants are on the verge of extinction for no apparent reason, and we have lost a lot because of science. We need to realize that the development of science does not guarantee human happiness.
