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Dangers of Knowledge

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Submitted By boss12
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Destruction of Knowledge
They say that sometimes the pursuit of knowledge is the force and downfall of man’s quest to discover the unknown. Throughout the history of mankind, man has been faced with the temptations to reach the level of God. The Tower of Babel is the first attempt by man to become as powerful as God when man tries to build a tower that reaches the heavens, which ended in inevitable doom. In Jurassic Park and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley we have renowned scientists who try to accomplish feats that were never thought of and in the midst of things get carried away and things go unexpectedly wrong. This shows that the pursuit of knowledge can be very dangerous and have a catastrophic ending if not carefully planned. In the beginning these two men Victor Frankenstein and John Hammond both had amazing ideas that would change the world forever. But, in the end their experiment came to a stop because their creations turned on them and that’s when things started to get out of hand. Victor suffers because of his pursuit of knowledge and his creation that ultimately destroys his life. As the story goes on the monster starts to change as he gains knowledge. The creature at the start is innocent and means no harm. But, as he gains knowledge, he begins to learn that he does not fit in and becomes angry. This can also be related to Jurassic Park because, as time goes on in the film the dinosaurs also gain knowledge like when they gain the ability to open doors. When both the creature and the dinosaurs began to gain knowledge that’s when the misfortune began to manifest. At the same time the creature started to crave for knowledge in the hope of no longer being shunned by the human society. When this backfires the creature turned to violence and revenge as the pursuit of knowledge was to no avail.
The knowledge that Victor is pursuing and the knowledge the creature is pursuing have fundamental differences. Victor is working to try to figure out how to cheat death. This knowledge pushes the limit of what is accepted by society. While John on the other hand is trying to find a way to bring back an entire species. Both very similar but end in disaster. Theses project is an unknown realm of science and the possible consequences of success are a mystery. Victor becomes so involved with the idea, however, that he fails to consider possible consequences. Creating a menace to society had not crossed his mind. Although Victor knew the dangers of acquiring knowledge. For example he stated “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, then he who aspires to become greater then nature will allow” (pg 81). He still continued with his research and in the end everything came crashing down on him.
Under most circumstances, the quest for knowledge is encouraged and often pressed onto people. However, sometimes having too much knowledge can have deadly consequences. If one shuns their knowledge, it can lead to self-destruction not only to one's self but also to everyone around them.

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