Development of science and imperialism and their effect

“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missile and misguided men. -(Martin Luther King JR.)”

In book named “Sapiens” author Harari have explained the history of mankind. He started with the big bang (which is assumed to be the cause of the birth if the universe). he explained how our earth was formed, the journey of one cell to evolution of many earthly species and how human came to existence. He stressed on explaining how homoserines were able to spread their seeds throughout the continent by breeding with other human like species. He stressed about how empires were formed, how people sprayed story, how stories transformed to religion, how economic took place and how revolution of technology have shaped history of mankind.

It’s kind of funny that man have existed for many years but it only took 500 years to be in the place we are in. The main reason is the advancement of science. Science in the force of knowledge that have made human gain supremacy over other earthly beings. Before the year 1500 science was not given importance. But after 500 years we have read and seen how have science modernized human kind to this extent. During these 500-year remarkable discoveries were found. Various truth about worlds were found, but not all. Einstein developed atom bomb. That particular bomb ended world war two. Sir Isaac Newton developed his principle throughout his books. That particular principle is well known as it is applied in most of the scientific technologies. Man have been able to step at the moon, railway was developed, man now have cellphones which enables them to talk to person who is at another half of the Earth. A single computer can store all the data from the medieval world with room to spare. In 1500, cities averaged 100,000 residents; today, they house millions. Scientists in 1600 didn’t know anything about microbes. This is all possible due to scientific revolution. But still it amazes me that it only took 500 years to get to the place where we all are on. Harari states people before 1500. At those period people used to believe religious scripture hold all true knowledge that mankind needs to know. But after 1500 peoples view started changing. They started to realize that religious scriptures states truth but doesn’t gives knowledge of everything. Those religious scripture failed to state the important knowledge that science provides. For example, law of gravitation is not mentioned in bible or Quran. Those religious scriptures also fail to say unimportant stuff like how spider makes web and so on…On the other hand religious scripture don’t have their own proof of their sayings, for example they can’t prove if hell or heaven is real. However, science proves every statement through its mathematical words. We can take example of Isaac Newton and his mathematical theory which proves the law of gravitation is held true, and brothers who found the concept of hypothesis testing to find the probability of the death that might occur. Another thing bible and other scripture says is that they know all that is about the world, but science says that they don’t know all about the world and human have much to explore and learn about the world. “human was able to extend human life with help of science but wasn’t able to achieve immortality” this statement proves that humans didn’t know about all thing and they still believe they have lot to explore a lot about the world to get to that point. Now we know why science have gained superiority.

Ok now we know how science gained importance. Well science didn’t got fame instantly. It took time. According to Harari science and empire are two side of coin and I also think it is true. Well, it started to rise side by side. During the Roman Empire, European countries was powerless compared to others of. By 1750, European country colonized many parts of the world, even so European country was powerless in front of most of the Asian countries. By 1950, Western Europe and the United States accounted for over half the global economy. But now European countries are one of the most powerful country on Earth. He argues that even people who don’t like Europeans tend to act like Europeans in their dress, tastes, and thinking. why European got this developed in these 500 years but not Asians? Well, the precise answer is European country during those days (after year 1500) valued both science and empire. They gave importance to both science and expanding empire at the same time. By the time Asian started valuing science, most of the European was capable of dominating whole Asian country.

According to Harari, the point of time when science got importance was during 1500. It all started when Columbus got fund from Isabell (queen of Spain). The fact that Columbus found America and claimed America’s part as the land of Spain encouraged many other empires to fund for deed of exploration. The fact that exploring was given importance itself states that science was rising. The story of Columbus expedition reached many people and one of them was Cortes who once ruled people of Aztec on behalf of Spain. Before Columbus expedition to America, people used to make map, but after discovery of America people was enlightened that they didn’t know much about the world. Hence, they started drawing maps leaving some blank space (which indicates that particular place is still to be explored). This curiosity to explore made man discover a lot of things. Later science as a theory was given importance when the Scientific Revolution was traditionally held by most historians which begun in 1543.

Ok now we know how empire and science have developed through out through out those five hundred years and now every body follows such value of science and imperialism. But what is the main reason behind so? The main reason is the benefits science and imperialism have left behind. We can take example of British empire. In past day British used to ruled many parts of world. In their conquest to conquer India, they also gained knowledge of Indian languages, scriptures, and so on. In their process they also found remarkable discoveries in India. Those stuffs which Britain have found have led to new learnings that is quite valuable. Similarly, we take one Britain commander who went to Persia to train Persian armies, and found quite valuable Persian ruins. similarly, Harari also stated foundation of linguistic religion, which was only possible to imperialism and science.

British empire has contributed a lot to India during their periods of ruling India. Without British rule who knows in which condition India would be right now. Maybe India would be less developed now or far worse if there was no British rule. But we can guarantee that the marks left by Britain’s for example, roads, rail roads, developed economy, etc. wouldn’t be there. If there was no British empire whole India might not be whole right now. British empire made the formation of India whole. For example, if there was no British rule, Nepal Indian war would not happen and Nepal would get to keep their parts like Jomsome, etc. Another country that was formed during those periods is Indonesia. Basically, it was formed by one of Belgium company during those periods, all for the purpose of their trade. But later they were striped out of their ruling period of Indonesia. Without Belgium company, Indonesia wouldn’t be united and wouldn’t have existed. Not only this a lot of country would be under developed, if these things wouldn’t have happened. Similarly, we can see development of science and empire have made a lot of contribution.

Similarly, there are negative effect of science and imperialism. Basically, science and imperialism have made people feel superior. By superior I mean those developed and powerful European country. The main reason is the scientific development of weponaries and other military related stuff, which is feared by small and less developed countries. We might take example of world war two. The feeling of superiority has made a lot of country to clash between each other. Lots of innocent life were taken, especially lives of Jews by Germans. Later war was ended by atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima, done by Americans. Due to that particular reason America is not challenged by other country, till now. Similarly, we can also take example of Britain empire. Britain used to kill Indian who don’t follow their order during their regime in India.

Science have imperialism have a lot of good sides but their back sides are on that same level. Without imperialism and science, a lot of discoveries and knowledge wouldn’t have been found until now. But on other hand the lives and all the natural destruction wouldn’t have happened. It is solely the view of people that makes science and imperialism good and bad, and it is still a debatable question. What do you think? is rise of science and imperialism during those periods bad or good?