“You will believe that this understanding has not been with out it’s misgivings; they are heavy on us today, when the future, which has so many elements of high promise, is yet only a stone’s throw from despair…”
Robert Oppenheimer
The above quote is from a letter that Robert Oppenheimer wrote to one of his high school teachers after the detonation of the first atomic bomb. I find it very intriguing that a letter was written to a former instructor. Was it some sort of plea for forgiveness?
The scientists involved were not pleased at the breakthrough they had achieved. Makes me wonder what drove them to complete the bomb? I am well aware of the political climate of the era along with the driving force from a military point of view, but I question how did these people of science continue going forward with project?
This much I know. I have never read anything that describes any pride in their discovery. Very curious indeed. Was it ego? I suppose I will never truly understand… I wasn’t there side by side with the scientists to even begin to understand why they did it.
George Kistiakowsky, another key figure in the design of the bomb described the explosion as follows. “In the last milli-second of the earths existence the last men will see what we saw.”
The moment the explosion took place they were aware of the instrument of darkness they had discovered. The director of the test, Kenneth Bainbridge turned to Oppenheimer after the explosion and said, “Now we’re all sons of bitches.” They had enough theory to understand what they were unleashing. And yet… They did it anyway.
As we have been watching the situation with the nuclear reactors in Japan. We are finding out how dangerous it is bit by bit. Perhaps a tired phrase however I find it most appropriate. “Once the tooth paste is out of the tube you can’t put it back in.” Sadly nuclear waste is not going to just wash down the basin and dissipate with water.
The drive to split the atom has lead us to this moment, where not only as a group of living beings that has to deal with natural disasters, we had go and create a cataclysmic one all of our own design. One that could wipe out all life. Uhh, for the record that wiping out of life, ain’t going to be instant. Not for most. For most it will be a slow arduous death.
So if the minds of science can figure out destruction… Why not figure out a solution to this atrocity perpetrated on the planet? It seems like when listening to the groups of “We Know Better Than You…” they shrug their shoulders at us and say there is nothing that can be done, we are stuck with the situation. OK then. How about this to all the brainiacs… STOP. Find a solution or solutions to rid the world of this toxic nightmare. Put all that brain power into solutions. Contain this madness before we all slip on the preverbal toothpaste that got spilled on basin, and is now oozing onto the floor on which we stand. It just seems to me that the ability to find a viable solution is out there.
I am not a man of science. Some will argue I am not a man of logic either. So be it. But! I am a man of reason, you may not like my reasoning, but I bet you will find at the end of the day my motives and reasons don’t differ much from most anybody else’s reasons or motives. The survival of the future generations is in our hands, and I truly hope that a solution can be found before the robbery of the future takes place.
As Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Pay head to the past, but perhaps it is time to look into a future with a different approach. I do think that the splitting of the atom was bound to happen, science just can’t sit still. Exploration of science is a must if we want to advance. I just think that it is time for a new approach. As Albert Einstein said… “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
It boils down to this I truly believe that if we simply treated each other in the same manner that we want to be treated. Then all the bickering and feuding could become folklore. No further need for such destructive ways of life.
In closing let these words ring as the warning, I think they were intended…
“You will believe that this understanding has not been with out it’s misgivings; they are heavy on us today, when the future, which has so many elements of high promise, is yet only a stone’s throw from despair…”
Robert Oppenheimer
©2011
All rights reserved
Chris J Hutchins
Dog Hair Productions
Robert Oppenheimer
The above quote is from a letter that Robert Oppenheimer wrote to one of his high school teachers after the detonation of the first atomic bomb. I find it very intriguing that a letter was written to a former instructor. Was it some sort of plea for forgiveness?
The scientists involved were not pleased at the breakthrough they had achieved. Makes me wonder what drove them to complete the bomb? I am well aware of the political climate of the era along with the driving force from a military point of view, but I question how did these people of science continue going forward with project?
This much I know. I have never read anything that describes any pride in their discovery. Very curious indeed. Was it ego? I suppose I will never truly understand… I wasn’t there side by side with the scientists to even begin to understand why they did it.
George Kistiakowsky, another key figure in the design of the bomb described the explosion as follows. “In the last milli-second of the earths existence the last men will see what we saw.”
The moment the explosion took place they were aware of the instrument of darkness they had discovered. The director of the test, Kenneth Bainbridge turned to Oppenheimer after the explosion and said, “Now we’re all sons of bitches.” They had enough theory to understand what they were unleashing. And yet… They did it anyway.
As we have been watching the situation with the nuclear reactors in Japan. We are finding out how dangerous it is bit by bit. Perhaps a tired phrase however I find it most appropriate. “Once the tooth paste is out of the tube you can’t put it back in.” Sadly nuclear waste is not going to just wash down the basin and dissipate with water.
The drive to split the atom has lead us to this moment, where not only as a group of living beings that has to deal with natural disasters, we had go and create a cataclysmic one all of our own design. One that could wipe out all life. Uhh, for the record that wiping out of life, ain’t going to be instant. Not for most. For most it will be a slow arduous death.
So if the minds of science can figure out destruction… Why not figure out a solution to this atrocity perpetrated on the planet? It seems like when listening to the groups of “We Know Better Than You…” they shrug their shoulders at us and say there is nothing that can be done, we are stuck with the situation. OK then. How about this to all the brainiacs… STOP. Find a solution or solutions to rid the world of this toxic nightmare. Put all that brain power into solutions. Contain this madness before we all slip on the preverbal toothpaste that got spilled on basin, and is now oozing onto the floor on which we stand. It just seems to me that the ability to find a viable solution is out there.
I am not a man of science. Some will argue I am not a man of logic either. So be it. But! I am a man of reason, you may not like my reasoning, but I bet you will find at the end of the day my motives and reasons don’t differ much from most anybody else’s reasons or motives. The survival of the future generations is in our hands, and I truly hope that a solution can be found before the robbery of the future takes place.
As Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Pay head to the past, but perhaps it is time to look into a future with a different approach. I do think that the splitting of the atom was bound to happen, science just can’t sit still. Exploration of science is a must if we want to advance. I just think that it is time for a new approach. As Albert Einstein said… “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
It boils down to this I truly believe that if we simply treated each other in the same manner that we want to be treated. Then all the bickering and feuding could become folklore. No further need for such destructive ways of life.
In closing let these words ring as the warning, I think they were intended…
“You will believe that this understanding has not been with out it’s misgivings; they are heavy on us today, when the future, which has so many elements of high promise, is yet only a stone’s throw from despair…”
Robert Oppenheimer
©2011
All rights reserved
Chris J Hutchins
Dog Hair Productions
2 comments:
Always appreciate your insight and passion, Chris. It seems to me that life is an endless array of choices, and I cannot fathom why a reversal of course or a new direction is often considered so very radical or remote...
Thank you Tom!
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