This is the script of this morning’s Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
It’s that time of year when I can get easily distracted by the ‘silly season’ funny stories – a Chinese bear that looks like a human being dressed up as a bear, for example. And, yes, I’ve seen Barbie and I’m pinked out. But, I’m haunted just now by the other film of the moment: Oppenheimer.
There’s an interesting exchange at one of the security hearings to which Robert Oppenheimer was subjected. He is asked about when his moral sensibilities changed – between his creation of the atomic bomb in 1945 and his warnings about its world-changing impact four years later.
The presumption of the question seemed to be that moral judgments are fixed and should not change… which is nonsense. Oppenheimer distinguished between his technical accomplishment and the moral implications of that accomplishment. He also recognised that new technology generates new ethical questions. The world was changed by his creation and the criteria for moral judgment looked different in that new world. Today, the pioneers of AI are facing the same dilemmas Oppenheimer faced, with some also warning that their creations pose a threat to the future of humanity.
This week marks the sixtieth anniversary of the signing in Moscow of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Such treaties were sold as a partial resolution of those new moral problems the atom bomb created – the new power to destroy the planet, borne of nuclear rivalries and mutual threats. The treaty allowed nations to press on with the technology, but mitigate its potential damage. The success was limited because both sides went on developing the weapons anyway.
This behavior begs one of the fundamental questions that religious traditions explore – “Knowing the best that we can achieve, why do human beings still plan what they know will be utterly destructive?”
The Christian tradition has a single word for this tendency: sin. It describes our propensity to do what we know to be damaging – to ourselves, to others and to the world we live in.
“What I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing,” says the apostle Paul.
The Old Testament is full of rituals and festivals designed to help humans learn from the sins and mistakes of previous generations. The biblical narrative makes clear that we must constantly renew our commitment to protecting the planet and its people.
Christians call such openness to change ‘repentance’ – literally, changing your mind in order to see differently. Oppenheimer’s moral thinking was changed by his work. The father of the atomic bomb should be celebrated at least for that.
