It's an 80's film starring Val Kilmer, pretty funny. It's about a couple exceptionally bright young physicists who are tricked, by their greedy physics professor, into making a weapon for the military. Once they discover that what they had created was going to be used as a weapon, the young team comes up with a very clever plan to disable it, and get some revenge on their devious professor as well.
What they actually invented was a laser that didn't lose energy over distance. One specific scene from the movie I remember is when another student comes up to the group and asks what they think it will be used for. To which one of the students replies, "who cares let the engineers find out a use for it." This of course leads to when they discover it will be a weapon and plot to disable it. This however made me think about the ethics in science, and science fiction.
Science fiction is filled with brilliant scientists who spent their lives trying to create something only to regret it once achieving their goal. For example, Dr. Frankenstein discovered the secret to life but spent the rest of his days trying to destroy his only creation (for unjust cause but still he tried). The invisible man at first saw only the benefits of being invisible, and when it was achieved he strived to return to normal.
Oppenheimer even regretted ever being a part of the Manhattan project once it was all said and done with.
Would the world be better without such creations? Does the person who invented gun powder regret it and wish they could take it back? There is still the ongoing debate about the bomb, whether it saved more lives than it took. And gun powder can be used for pretty fire works...
Where is the line? I'm a budding mechanical engineer. If I designed a brand new super powerful gun, but never once fired it myself, how bad should I feel?
-Osvaldo Enriquez
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