Article Analysis #2 - Science, Politics. and Utopia

This article goes deeper into what is most certainly an obvious connection, that between science and the idea of a Utopian society. After all, Utopian/Dystopian films and books so often find their home right in the center of the science-fiction genre. But in this discussion, it is very important to note the difference between science itself, and technology, as they are related but absolutely not the same thing. Science, essentially, is merely a method used for obtaining information. You make a prediction about something observable or testable in the natural world, perform numerous tests to collect data, and either conform or deny your original hypothesis. Modern times has even brought in the practice of data being compiled into journals that undergo the peer-review process. Science seems to also have no foreseeable end-point, as more questions that are answered by the scientific method just seem to create more and more questions. An exchange that can be seen in such a way that the more we learn, the more we realize how much we don't know. Technology, on the other hand, is definitely born out of science, and scientific research and development, but as explained it is a distinct separate entity from science itself. This creates and interesting point of duality, in which science does not hold the lever between Utopia and Dystopia, it's actually the scientist that can push it either way, determined by the technology they've created. In both 1984 and THX1138 technology is used to enslave people, and dumb them down to a state of numbness, ripe for being taken control of. There exists a disconnect between science, and the worlds created in these films. The same science conducted could've been done "the opposite direction", if you will, and created a beautiful Utopian culture. Instead, however, in both films the technology that arises out of the scientists in their respective woulds creates a severely Dystopian society in every sense of the term.