Dear Professor Jacques Dubochet,
I hope all is well. Thank you very much for your reply to The 6th Open Letter to Leaders of Mankind. It is admirable and comforting that you agree with my opinion about the restriction of the development of science and technology in principle, because I have been studying human issues for over 40 years, and have been calling for a solution to this severe problem—that development of science and technology at the current pace will soon exterminate mankind in various ways. Although I have failed many times, I am still fighting for it. You are the first scientist with great influence who agrees with my opinion about the restriction of the development of science and technology to some extent.
You mentioned in your letter that science is knowledge and the problem is not about knowledge but what we do with it. You also agreed that we are not doing it well. You further proposed the idea that UNO should be in charge of the supervision of all technologies for their development and their use. Here, I want to talk about my idea about these issues frankly.
In my opinion, we will never use such knowledge as science and technology perfectly, and I have two reasons for that. First, we can not fully grasp the functions of science and technology correctly. Science and technology has its uncertainties, and what we think the best is always the worst. Meanwhile, the higher the technology becomes, the more difficult for us to judge its safety. For example, the use of freon leads to the destruction of ozonosphere and the use of DDT exerts a negative impact on biodiversity. At the beginning, we use these tech-products with good intention, but there is no good return. Second, it is impossible for us to use the products of science and technology with absolutely good intention. Mankind is a specific species, and even the best moral value and legal system can only play an effective role in restricting the entire society. The extremely bad things may happen anytime and may be committed by anyone, including scientists.
Therefore, the hope that science and technology can be well used is an extravagant one.
What I have just talked about is not aimed at denying the control of the content of research in science and technology or where scientific and technological achievements are used. I just want to emphasize that such control cannot solve the problem completely. We must consider the following problems just because of such helpless facts.
No matter how badly we have done in the past, or even a nuclear war might exterminate several billion people in the world, there are always some people who can survive, and mankind has the opportunity to start again. But today, things are totally different. If many science and technologies continue to develop for several decades, they may pose a threat to all human beings. Therefore, even though science and technologies have numerous benefits, we must restrict them if they can exterminate mankind, and the existence of human beings is above everything.
Therefore, under the condition that we can neither predict the safety of all science and technologies nor use each of them well, we have only one choice—don’t allow science and technology to develop to such a level as to exterminate mankind, which means the restriction of scientific and technological development. If science and technology is kept at a safe level, it can not exterminate mankind even if it is used by someone to hurt us intentionally or unintentionally.
Basically, my attitude towards science and technology is that we should restrict it firstly, and use it well secondly.
The so-called restriction is that science and technology can not develop to a higher level. When science and technology develops to the current level, a lot of technologies may bring extreme danger to mankind if they continue to develop. Enough time must be left for us to avoid the extermination.
The so-called ‘use well’ means that we should scrutinize every science and technology carefully and spread all the existing mature and safe scientific and technological achievements of different countries to the whole world. By doing so, we can have enough food and clothing. We can not be too greedy.
We can not rely on UN to control the development of science and technology rationally, because UN is just an organization coordinating different countries and can not control countries, especially major countries. The only way to achieve this goal is the unification of our mankind and the use of the power of a universal government to control science and technology.
As to the end of all patents and the issue that science and technology can not be used for exclusive right or financial interest, I think that if these visions are realized, enthusiasm for science and technology will definitely be dampened. But these can only be realized by using the power of a universal government.
Respected Professor Jacques Dubochet, have you ever felt that mankind is running on a street of no return? However, as intelligent beings, we can not, by no means, allow ourselves to be exterminated without taking any action. We must fight with utmost effort even there is no hope. Then, effort of each drop of water is required in the ‘great current’ to save mankind. Although I and Save Human Action Organization (SHAO) are only a small droplet, we hope we work the hardest.
A lot of people may be thinking about the problems I mentioned above, and I want to publicize this letter. I don’t know if you mind it if I publicize this letter?
Sincerely yours,
Founder of SHAO
Hu Jiaqi
Dec. 28th, 2021
