Where is Science Taking Us? Summary and Explanation
PSEB Class 10 English Chapter 2 Where is Science Taking Us? Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from English Main Course Book
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PSEB Class 10 English Main Course Book Chapter 2 – Where is Science Taking Us?
By Dr. S.W. Pennycuick
From a Broadcast Talk from ADELAIDE, Australia
“Where is Science Taking Us?” is a thought-provoking essay written by Dr. S.W. Pennycuick, delivered as a broadcast talk from Adelaide, Australia around the 1950s. In this essay, the author critically examines the impact of scientific progress on human society. He raises important questions about whether science, while achieving tremendous material success, has neglected the ethical, spiritual, and social dimensions of human life. The essay explores the paradox of scientific advancement, how it solves some problems while creating many new ones. Dr. Pennycuick argues that true progress requires not just technological advancement but also growth in human virtues like charity, tolerance, understanding, and mercy.
- Where is Science Taking Us? Summary
- Where is Science Taking Us? Summary in Hindi
- Where is Science Taking Us? Theme
- Where is Science Taking Us? Explanation
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Where is Science Taking Us? Summary
Dr. S.W. Pennycuick begins by comparing two fundamental questions: the ancient “What is the Meaning of Life?” and the modern “Where is Science Taking Us?” He argues that while science has achieved remarkable material progress, it has done “less than nothing” for ethical and spiritual values, leading people to wonder if humans are merely machines.
The essay describes how the Machine Age has transformed every aspect of life. Machines are everywhere, in fields, factories, homes, and warfare. They provide enormous power, with petrol machines alone offering ten times more energy than all humans combined. However, this power has created paradoxes: despite abundant food production, people go hungry; despite more leisure time, people don’t know how to use it meaningfully; and despite medical advances that extend life, society struggles with an overcrowded elderly population.
The author points out that science creates problems faster than they can be solved, trapping humanity in a “vicious circle.” War exemplifies this, with scientific advancement far outpacing ethical and moral development. He questions science’s ultimate goal, suggesting that its apparent aims, conquering the material environment and understanding the human body, cannot be the final destination.
What the world truly needs, Dr. Pennycuick argues, is not groundbreaking discoveries in physics or medicine, but “a small advance” in charity, understanding, tolerance, justice, and mercy. Science has been helpless in these non-material matters and cannot even help distinguish good from evil.
However, the author remains optimistic. He suggests that science might one day improve human brain function, increasing reasoning power and understanding. This could help humans better understand each other and perhaps even abolish war. Despite present troubles, he concludes that life is becoming more interesting and exciting, and those who fear the future lack courage. He wishes he had another hundred years to witness what comes next.
Summary of the Lesson Where is Science Taking Us? in Hindi
डॉ. एस.डब्ल्यू. पेनीक्विक दो मौलिक प्रश्नों की तुलना करते हुए शुरुआत करते हैं: प्राचीन प्रश्न “जीवन का अर्थ क्या है?” और आधुनिक प्रश्न “विज्ञान हमें कहाँ ले जा रहा है?” वे तर्क देते हैं कि जबकि विज्ञान ने उल्लेखनीय भौतिक प्रगति की है, इसने नैतिक और आध्यात्मिक मूल्यों के लिए “कुछ भी नहीं से भी कम” किया है, जिससे लोग सोचने लगे हैं कि क्या मनुष्य केवल एक मशीन है।
निबंध बताता है कि कैसे मशीन युग ने जीवन के हर पहलू को बदल दिया है। मशीनें हर जगह हैं, खेतों में, कारखानों में, घरों में और युद्ध में। वे अपार शक्ति प्रदान करती हैं, केवल पेट्रोल मशीनें ही सभी मनुष्यों की संयुक्त ऊर्जा से दस गुना अधिक प्रदान करती हैं। हालांकि, इस शक्ति ने विरोधाभास पैदा किए हैं: प्रचुर खाद्य उत्पादन के बावजूद लोग भूखे रहते हैं; अधिक अवकाश समय के बावजूद लोग नहीं जानते कि इसका सार्थक उपयोग कैसे करें; और चिकित्सा प्रगति से जीवन बढ़ने के बावजूद समाज भीड़भाड़ वाली बुजुर्ग आबादी से जूझ रहा है।
लेखक बताते हैं कि विज्ञान समस्याओं को हल करने की तुलना में तेजी से उन्हें बना रहा है, जिससे मानवता एक “दुष्चक्र” में फंस गई है। युद्ध इसका उदाहरण है, जहां वैज्ञानिक प्रगति नैतिक और नैतिक विकास से बहुत आगे निकल गई है। वे विज्ञान के अंतिम लक्ष्य पर सवाल उठाते हैं, यह सुझाव देते हुए कि इसके स्पष्ट उद्देश्य, भौतिक पर्यावरण पर विजय और मानव शरीर को समझना, अंतिम गंतव्य नहीं हो सकते।
डॉ. पेनीक्विक तर्क देते हैं कि दुनिया को वास्तव में भौतिकी या चिकित्सा में अभूतपूर्व खोजों की नहीं, बल्कि दान, समझ, सहनशीलता, न्याय और दया में “एक छोटी सी प्रगति” की आवश्यकता है। विज्ञान इन गैर-भौतिक मामलों में असहाय रहा है और अच्छे और बुरे के बीच अंतर करने में भी मदद नहीं कर सकता।
हालांकि, लेखक आशावादी बने रहते हैं। वे सुझाव देते हैं कि विज्ञान एक दिन मानव मस्तिष्क की कार्यप्रणाली में सुधार कर सकता है, तर्क शक्ति और समझ को बढ़ा सकता है। यह मनुष्यों को एक-दूसरे को बेहतर ढंग से समझने और शायद युद्ध को समाप्त करने में मदद कर सकता है। वर्तमान परेशानियों के बावजूद, वे निष्कर्ष निकालते हैं कि जीवन अधिक दिलचस्प और रोमांचक होता जा रहा है, और जो लोग भविष्य से डरते हैं उनमें साहस की कमी है। वे चाहते हैं कि उनके पास आगे क्या होने वाला है यह देखने के लिए एक सौ साल और हों।
Theme of the Lesson Where is Science Taking Us?
The central theme of the essay is the critical examination of scientific progress and its impact on human life. The author questions whether science is leading humanity toward true happiness and fulfillment or merely material comfort at the expense of spiritual and ethical values.
Material Progress vs. Spiritual Development: Science excels in material achievements but fails to address ethical and spiritual needs.
The Machine Age and Its Consequences: While machines have given humans unprecedented power, they have also created new problems and dependencies.
Science Creating Problems Faster Than Solutions: The rapid pace of scientific discovery creates social, ethical, and environmental problems that humanity struggles to solve.
The Need for Human Values: The world needs advances in charity, tolerance, understanding, and mercy more than new scientific discoveries.
Hope for the Future: Despite present difficulties, life is becoming more interesting, and science might eventually improve human reasoning and understanding.
Where is Science Taking Us? Lesson Explanation
Passage – “When man first began to think, he asked himself the deepest of all questions, a question which you have undoubtedly asked yourself many times: What is the Meaning of Life? What is it all about? Where are we all going? What drives men ever forward to work and worry?”
Word Meanings:
undoubtedly: without doubt, certainly
drives: motivates, pushes forward
Explanation: The author introduces the most fundamental question that humans have pondered since ancient times, the meaning and purpose of life. What is our destination and what makes us work and worry about things or events. Such questions have troubled humanity throughout history.
Passage – And now there’s another big question-a newer question which is beginning to force itself into our notice. One that is not ages old….. that has not been with us since man first began to think. It is: Where is Science Taking Us?
Word Meanings:
force itself into our notice : demand our attention
Explanation: The author introduces a modern question that has emerged in the scientific age, where is scientific progress leading humanity? This is a new concern compared to the ancient philosophical questions.
Passage – First, where is science taking us with regard to ethical and spiritual values? We know what it is doing with regard to material things, for material things are its daily business; but what is it doing with regard to non-material things? If the answer were ‘nothing at all,’ that would be bad enough; but the actual answer is ‘less than nothing.’
Word Meanings:
ethical : relating to moral principles
spiritual : relating to the soul or spirit
regard : respect to, concerning
Explanation: The author questions science’s impact on ethics and spirituality. While science excels in material achievements, it has failed to address non-material aspects of human life. In fact, it has done harm by overemphasizing materialism.
Passage – Here science is actually doing less than nothing. Its material teachings have been so over-emphasized that many people are floundering and wondering whether after all man is but a machine animated by forces over which he has no control.
Word Meanings:
floundering : struggling, confused
animated : given life, activated
Explanation: Science’s excessive focus on materialism has confused people, making them question whether humans are just machines controlled by external forces, lacking free will and spiritual essence.
Passage – Let’s concentrate on material things, the things that form the very stronghold of science. Look at the machine, for instance. This is the age of the machine.
Word Meanings:
stronghold : fortress, area of strength
Explanation: The author shifts focus to machines, science’s greatest material achievement, to examine their impact on human life.
Passage – Machines are everywhere- in the fields, in the factory, in the home, in the street, in the city, in the country, everywhere. To fly, it is not necessary to have wings; there are machines. To swim under the sea it is not necessary to have gills, there are machines. To kill our fellow men in overwhelming numbers, there are machines.
Word Meanings:
gills : breathing organs of fish
overwhelming : very large, crushing
Explanation: Machines have invaded every aspect of human life. They enable humans to fly without wings and swim underwater without gills, but they also enable mass destruction through warfare.
Passage – Petrol machines alone provide ten times more power than all human beings in the world. In the busiest countries, each individual has six hundred human slaves in his machines.
Word Meanings:
petrol machines : machines powered by petroleum/gasoline
Explanation: Machines provide enormous power, far exceeding human physical capacity. The comparison to “slaves” shows how dependent humans have become on machines.
Passage – What are the consequences of this abnormal power? Before the war, it looked as though it might be possible, for the first time in history, to provide food and clothing and shelter for the teeming population of the world – every man, woman and child. This would have been one of the greatest triumphs of science.
Word Meanings:
consequences : results, outcomes
abnormal : unusual, excessive
teeming : crowded, swarming
triumph : victory, great success
Explanation: The author discusses how science could have eliminated poverty and provided basic necessities for everyone, a great achievement. However, this potential remains unfulfilled.
Passage – And yet, many a time especially during the war we have seen the world crammed full of food and people hungry. For that’s the way of science and the machine age. Science produces the goods, it makes the goods, but has no control over the consequences.
Word Meanings:
crammed : packed, filled completely
Explanation: Despite having enough food, people still go hungry due to poor distribution and social inequality. Science can produce goods but cannot solve the ethical and social problems of fair distribution.
Passage – The machine age gives us year by year more hours of leisure but it fails to teach us how to use them. It gives us mechanical habits of mind and represses the spirit of adventure – except along machine-made lines.
Word Meanings:
leisure : free time
represses : suppresses, holds back
Explanation: While machines save time, they don’t teach people how to use leisure meaningfully. They create routine, mechanical thinking and suppress human creativity and adventurous spirit.
Passage – “The machine age gives us year by year more hours of leisure but it fails to teach us how to use them. It gives us mechanical habits of mind and represses the spirit of adventure – except along machine-made lines.”
Word Meanings:
leisure : free time
represses : suppresses, holds back
Explanation: While machines save time, they don’t teach people how to use leisure meaningfully. They create routine, mechanical thinking and suppress human creativity and adventurous spirit.
Passage – “We will need all our creative powers to think our way out of the social problems which science has created for us.”
Explanation: Humanity needs to use all its creativity and wisdom to solve the social problems created by scientific advancement.
Passage – “It is science that has given us the unexpected redistribution of the age groups. Almost every year, some modern drug adds a little more to the average span of life, until the upper group is overcrowded. In the United States, for instance, there are already nine million people over the age of sixty.”
Word Meanings:
redistribution : rearrangement, new distribution
span of life : life expectancy, duration of life
overcrowded : too full, excessively populated
Explanation: Medical advances have increased life expectancy, creating an aging population that society struggles to support. For example – In USA, there are nine million people above the age of sixty years.
Passage – “This talk was delivered around the 1950’s. In fifteen years’ time, this number will reach the astonishing figure of forty-five million. Who is to keep them? It will need some readjustment.”
Word Meanings:
astonishing : amazing, surprising
readjustment : adaptation, reorganization
Explanation: The author predicts (correctly) that the elderly population would grow dramatically, creating social and economic challenges.
Passage – “And so science goes on raising its problems. Compared with our fundamental question-What is Life?-these problems may seem to be of less importance. But they are not really so.”
Explanation: Science continues creating new problems. While these may seem less important than philosophical questions, they significantly impact human life.
Passage – “What is happening is that science is creating problems faster than they can be solved. Man is struggling in a sort of vicious circle, always striving to catch up and never getting nearer.”.
Word Meanings:
vicious circle : a repeating cycle of cause and effect
striving : trying hard, making efforts
Explanation: Science advances so rapidly that humanity cannot keep pace with solving the problems it creates, trapping us in an endless cycle.
Passage – “And there are no signs that the glut of discoveries is coming to an end. War is the worst example; science has pushed it so far forward that ethics and morals are floundering hopelessly behind.”
Word Meanings:
glut : excess, oversupply
Explanation: Scientific discoveries continue rapidly. Warfare technology advances so fast that ethical and moral considerations cannot keep up.
Passage – “It makes one sometimes ask: What is science really after? What are its aims? What is its goal? Its aims seem to be obvious. They are material, of course. One aim is the complete understanding, indeed the conquest, of man’s environment; the conquest of everything material, big or small, bringing all powers within man’s reach.”
Word Meanings:
conquest : act of conquering, complete control
Explanation: The author questions science’s ultimate purpose. Its apparent goal is complete control over the material world and all its powers.
Passage – “The other aim is the understanding of all the mysteries that lie within the human body-the material mysteries, the innumerable chemical and physical actions that make the body work.”
Word Meanings:
innumerable : countless, too many to count
Explanation: Science also aims to understand how the human body functions through chemistry and physics.
Passage – “If these are the apparent aims of science, surely they cannot represent the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal, if there is such a thing, must be the understanding of everything that makes life worthwhile, the enrichment of all that life means. That goes beyond material things; for man needs more than food and shelter and clothing and the understanding of what goes on within his stomach.”
Word Meanings:
apparent : visible, obvious
ultimate : final, eventual
enrichment : improvement, enhancement
worthwhile : valuable, meaningful
Explanation: Material achievements cannot be science’s final goal. The true goal should be enriching all aspects of life, spiritual, emotional, and social, not just material comfort.
Passage – “What is really needed in the world today, perhaps more than ever before, is not some new world-shattering discovery in nuclear physics, or some breath-taking discovery in chemistry or medicine.”
Word Meanings:
world-shattering : revolutionary, earth-shaking
breath-taking : amazing, astonishing
Explanation: The world doesn’t need more groundbreaking scientific discoveries right now.
Passage – “The advance for which the world is waiting; beyond any doubt, is a small advance-a slight advance-in charity, in understanding, forbearance, tolerance, justice and mercy. That is what the world is waiting for, and waiting rather anxiously.”
Word Meanings:
forbearance : patience, self-control
tolerance : acceptance of different views
mercy : compassion, kindness
anxiously : with worry, eagerly
Explanation: The world desperately needs progress in human virtues, charity, understanding, patience, tolerance, justice, and compassion, more than scientific breakthroughs.
Passage – “But charity, and tolerance, and forbearance, and the understanding of one another are non- material matters. And in non-material things-in the simplest social things-science has been helpless. It cannot even help us to distinguish good from evil.”
Word Meanings:
distinguish : differentiate, tell apart
Explanation: These essential human virtues are non-material, and science has proven inability to help in these areas. It cannot even help us determine right from wrong.
Passage – “May be this will not always be so. Who knows? It is quite probable that some day science will effect an improvement in the human brain itself. Not a structural improvement, for in structure the human brain is the greatest miracle of all; its understanding will come last.”
Word Meanings:
probable : likely, possible
effect : bring about, cause
structural : relating to structure
Explanation: Perhaps science will one day improve the human brain’s function (not its physical structure, which is already perfect), though understanding the brain completely will be science’s final achievement.
Passage – But there might well be a functional improvement. That is far from fantastic. The advances in science might one day well increase the capacity and reasoning power of the human brain.
Word Meanings:
functional : relating to operation or working
fantastic : unrealistic, imaginary
reasoning : logical thinking
Explanation: Science might improve how the brain functions, increasing its capacity for reasoning and understanding. This is not an unrealistic possibility.
Passage – I should say there is little doubt that man will one day improve on the natural man, raise his intellectual status, and give him greater power of reasoning and understanding. He might have sufficient reason and understanding to abolish war.
Word Meanings:
intellectual : mental, relating to intellect
abolish : eliminate, put an end to
Explanation: The author is confident that humans will enhance their intellectual capabilities, potentially gaining enough wisdom to eliminate war.
Passage – Whether that will be so, whether and when he will have a better understanding of his fellow men….. that remains to be seen.
Word Meanings:
remains to be seen : is yet unknown, will be known in future
Explanation: Whether and when this will happen, when humans will truly understand each other, is uncertain and awaits the future.
Passage – It brings us back to the question: Where is Science Taking Us? Despite the present vicissitudes, we are going somewhere. There are troublesome times ahead.
Word Meanings:
vicissitudes : changes in circumstances, ups and downs
troublesome : difficult, problematic
Explanation: Despite current difficulties and uncertainties, humanity is progressing toward some destination, though challenges lie ahead.
Passage – But those who fear for the future are the craven (cowardly) in spirit; for life is becoming more and more interesting, intriguing and exciting. I wish I had another hundred years.
Word Meanings:
craven : cowardly, lacking courage
intriguing : fascinating, arousing curiosity
Explanation: The author concludes optimistically, saying that fearing the future shows cowardice. Life is becoming increasingly fascinating, and he wishes to live longer to witness future developments.
Conclusion
This post on “Where is Science Taking Us” from PSEB Class 10 English Maincoursebook covers the summary, themes, and explanation of the lesson. Students can get a quick recap of the lesson and prepare it.