Amiti Colson
Leanna Giancarlo’s lecture “They Called Me Crazy” discussed the mad scientist trope and pushing the boundaries of knowledge. In her lecture she went through the stereotypical mad scientist characters that we have seen time and time again in the media. Amongst characters like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, she talked about one scientist that our class is very familiar with, Victor Frankenstein. She questioned his madness, his sanity, if he was truly wicked for his creation or if he was simply a scientist who was willing to go that extra mile for discovery. Giancarlo showed us a clip from one of the older movies about Frankenstein that portrayed Victor as this manic man who wanted to play God, not to live out his scientific duties, but to instead grasp power with a tight fist.
Later in the lecture she talked about recent news of a Dr. He Jiankui of China who has made gene editing discoveries in relation to an immunity against HIV. He genetically modified the embryos of two twin girls in the womb of their mother so that they would be immune to getting the virus that their father tested positive for. The question then comes into play, what right does Dr. He have to perform genetic modifications, even if it is with the intent of good such as this. Does this lead into bigger things, genetically modifying preborn children to look a certain way, to be blessed with certain talents? This is the argument currently being made against Dr. He. Yet, if it is for the health of the person, is it so crazy for a scientist to dive further into gene modification?
The other lecture I attended was Craig Vasey’s lecture on an existential approach to madness. Now I will say that this lecture blew my mind and was the topic of conversation for most of the dinner I had with my boyfriend following the lecture. It really lingered in my mind for a long time after it was over. Vasey discussed the movement in treating people with mental health problems as human beings who deserve help and rights as people in our society. He discussed Freud’s discoveries in mental health saying that, “Freud was the first to recognize the powerful effect that our parents, in fact all our relationships, have on us and how our capacity to love is also the source of the most profound suffering.”He discussed the mind and soul, and how the answer prior to scientific discoveries had always been God. He asked, if theories come about that religion is false, then what is the meaning of human existence?
It turns out that anxiety is apart of existentialism. It is the heightened awareness of our existence, it’s the awareness that our human existence maybe meaningless. We are beings that care about the fact that we exist, we care about what/who we are, we need meaning to our life because we know we are going to die. We are all fully aware of our impending deaths. We are therefore born with this ontological insecurity. It is inherently in us, we can’t get over it. No wonder we have breaks in our mentality at times, or for the rest of our lives.
I pledge. -Amiti Colson
