Is Godliness Next to Cleanliness?

Back in 1945 when the atomic bomb born of the Manhattan Project was ticking away on its platform in the New Mexico desert, ready to be detonated, a few scientists who worked on its development wondered whether the explosion would start a chain reaction setting the atmosphere on fire. Others thought that the bomb would generate powerful electromagnetic impulses which would destroy parts of the electrical grid providing power across the country.

Well, we are still here, even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But J. Robert Oppenheimer, the eccentric, brilliant, mystical director of the bomb project, had his doubts. After the successful detonation, Oppenheimer said simply: “It worked.” But after thinking about it, he later added: “If the radiance of one thousand suns were about to burst into the sky that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds.” One test director Physicist Ken Bainbridge was less classic about it: “Now we are all sons of bitches.”

Some scientists are so concerned about the rapid advancement of science and technology, they have formed the Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society. According to William Wulf, a computer scientist who headed the National Academy of Engineering in 2007, scientists and engineers must worry about “the complexity of newly engineered systems coupled with their potential impact on lives, the environment, etc., raise a set of ethical issues that engineers had not been thinking about.”

An article in the NY Times by Cornelia Dean outlines some recent proposals which might prove to be of tremendous benefit to mankind.

Some scientists want to “seed” parts of the ocean with iron pellets, thinking that iron would encourage the growth of carbon-absorbing plankton. Such plankton might help us control global warming.

Others propose shooting certain chemicals into the sky which would inhibit the spread of gases causing global warming. Some propose launching dozens of sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth which would lessen the amount of sunlight reaching earth’s vulnerable spots.

But some scientists say we have no clue about the effects of these proposals because we have no way of predicting the changes in our environment. Rachelle Hollander, a non-scientist philosopher who directs the new center, says we may be dealing with technologies so powerful that “our saving grace, our inability to affect things at a planetary level, is being lost to us.” This is why Oppenheimer said, “I am become Death.”

A Forgotten -0 in a Program Results in a 60,000-mile Error

During the Apollo Space Program of 50 years ago a computer programmer forgot a (-0) in the proper spot in a program causing the “Death” of a satellite essential to the Apollo mission. That (-0) forced the satellite off-course by 60,000 miles--and if humans had been aboard a space vehicle, would have resulted in fiery deaths. Even in those early days a computer did the calculations in a short time. Otherwise it would have taken ten men 100 years to make all the mathematical functions needed for one rocket shot.

The complexity of modern engineering leaves little room for error or for unintended consequences. Our B-2 bomber, the world’s first big bomber with “stealth” qualities, has a crew of two but is basically flown by four computers, a system known in the trade as “fly-by-wire.”

Because of the sensitivity of the electronic equipment aboard, the $1.4 billion bombers are normally kept in climate-controlled hangers in Missouri to keep the computers functional.

When the B-2 was used against Baghdad in the early days of the Iraq War it was forced to fly non-stop from its Missouri base to the Middle East, a trip of about 30 hours. It was refueled in air several times while members of the crew took turns sleeping.

It was said that if the plane was rained on it might malfunction because of the sensitivity of the electronics. Well, who said war was cheap?

Last February a B-2, far away from its safe home base, crashed on takeoff from an air base on Guam in the Pacific. The crash investigation revealed that a few drops of condensed water had entered three of the 24 air-pressure sensors that control the flight-control system of the aircraft.

The sensors told the crew and the fly-by-wire system that the B-2 was ready to take off at 145 knots. It was the wrong air speed. The plane was actually traveling down the runway at 133 knots (equal to 153 mph). The plane stalled because it was going too slow. The pilot tried to abort the takeoff but the computers overruled him!

The two pilots managed to eject just seconds before the plane hit the runway with a wing and blew up. A few drops of water, just like the -0 in the computer program for the satellite, brought down a $1.4 billion aircraft. We are truly dealing with powerful and sensitive technologies.

Nuns May Have Been Pure in Spirit but Their Bodies Stunk to High Heaven--so to Speak

Actually, early Christians were also very sensitive to drops of water. In the early centuries the heads of convents warned their nuns and neophytes that “a clean body and a clean dress mean an unclean soul.” The rumors were that hot baths stirred sexual desire and the nuns couldn’t have any of that nonsense. I suppose the early Christians had picked up all those dirty stories of what happened in the Roman baths where senators and other ne’er-do-wells went to get dirty with their clean bodies.

Christians, including their leader Jesus Christ, thought that ministering to the purity of the soul was more important than keeping the body clean of grunge and crud.

Jesus did like to have clean feet as evidenced by several passages in the Bible, but the Pharisees often complained that Jesus and the apostles ate with very dirty hands and they were shocked when Jesus had lunch after touching lepers. All of this took place before innkeepers and homeowners put up signs reminding employees and customers to wash their hands after using the facilities.

Bathing the unclean body took a big hit during the Black Death in the 14th century when one-third of Europe’s population died of the plague bug. Public baths, which had turned out to be brothels which banned “other” women and nuns, were cited as the reason for the spread of the plague bacillus “because hot water opened the pores of the skin and allowed the plague germs to enter the body.” As late as 1568, the French Royal Surgeon Ambrose Pare urged people not to bath because the “pestiferous vapour can rapidly enter the the body and cause sudden death.”

What Can Six Billion People with Calculators Do?

It is both amusing and tragic that it took man almost 2,000 years to determine that keeping the body clean was almost as important as attempting to keep the soul clean. And, with what happened to the B-2 bomber, we could stretch the point and say godliness may be next to cleaniliness in order of importance.

At the same time I think it’s amazing that in the short span of half a century man has moved from hand calculators and the abacus to the Roadrunner computer which can perform 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. To give some idea of the speed of this computer, Thomas D’Agostino of the National Nuclear Security Administration determined that if the six billion people on earth used electronic hand calculators 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it would take them 46 years to do what this military super computer can do in just one day. That’s a “Wow!”

The Roadrunner cost $133 million, has 116,640 processor cores which must be operating at the same time in order that it run effectively, and takes about the same amount of electrical power consumed by a very large suburban shopping mall. Naturally it was designed to solve classified military problems encountered with nuclear weapons.

A Patient Who Doesn’t Mind a Root Canal

Computer Scientist Ronald Arkin at Georgia Tech advises the U.S. Army on robot weapons and thinks that robot technology is advancing so fast, particularly in Japan, that robotics might become “insidious.” He says humans must stay in the loop or robots may be too capable of replacing humans.

As an example, the Detroit Symphony was recently directed by ASIMO of Honda in the playing of selections from “Man of La Mancha.” The 4’ 3” Honda robot came to the podium, waved to the audience, and said “Hello!”

“He” conducted the piece accurately, bowed to the enthusiastic audience, and added: “It is absolutely thrilling to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This is a magnificent concert hall.” By the way, ASIMO stands for “Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.”

The Japanese are using “Simroid,” a robot designed for training dentists , which has human-like skin, eyes, mouth, and teeth. Sensors are fitted to where nerve endings are in human teeth. If the student drills too close to the nerves the robot yells, “Ow! That hurt!” They are currently working on artificial gums that will allow students to learn to inject anesthetics.

How about robots which can solve Rubik’s Cube problems? This robot is a bit slow compared to whiz-kid humans who solve it in 9.77 seconds. But the new kid on the block takes only about five minutes to accomplish the same task.

We may not be able to control robots or atoms in future developments. We could end up like the bureaucrat who stopped at a farm to examine the farm’s water allocation for irrigation. He told the farmer he needed to inspect the layout. The farmer said, “Okay, but don’t go in that field over there.”

Bureaucrat: “Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me. See this card? The card means I am allowed to go wherever I wish--no questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?”

The farmer said nothing and went about his chores. Soon he heard loud screams and saw the bureaucrat running for the fence with the farmer’s huge-horned bull close behind. The farmer immediately threw down his tools, rushed to the fence, and yelled: “Your card! Your card! Show him your card!”

Sometimes we need to look at all the angles.