We watched and discussed two BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze programmes with science related themes: Should science ever be stopped? from 21 Jun 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001n1rr and AI - the end of humanity or the next evolutionary step? from 29 Mar 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001kh4j   Is science the problem?  Knowledge is surely better than ignorance, and it seems the problem lies rather in technology, the outcome and application of scientific knowledge.  Some issues with the programmes were that while technology can be used for bad or undesirable ends, or to make profits, or control people - and some scientists take no responsibility for their discoveries - there are good outcomes as well as bad from most scientific advances, and engineers and entrepreneurs who seek to bring benefits through their work.  Yes, there should be regulation where there is power to enforce control - the plea in the 2022 Reith Lectures to control the proliferation of drones clearly wasn’t heeded  - but there needs to be education to keep up with and foresee the outcomes of scientific advances.  Education is also essential to interact with AI.  We need to recognise it, know basically how it works, and respond to its output critically.  We can use it to enhance what we generate, and we discussed to what extent authorship or authenticity is important, for example in works of art.  AI will enhance performance at work and eliminate some jobs.  But technology has always done that, and we will be free to pursue different creative paths and hopefully led to value different jobs in society.  Karl Marx believed that society and morality are fundamentally shaped by economic structures.**  The question is whether our education and ability to cope with the changes can keep pace.

** This sentence was generated by AI  🙂