Eyes
to
See
tions can scarcely be the "vulture w h o s e w i n g s are dull realities" of Poe's p o e m , for there is a m u c h m o r e active m a l e v o lence here than provided by an opportunist scavenger. Both the b e n i g n a n d the intimidating i m a g e s of the scientist reflect t h e a m b i g u i t y o f t h e r o l e a s t h e l a y m a n s e e s it. O n t h e o n e h a n d m a n y people look to the scientist as cure-all, p u r v e y o r of the w e e k l y "breakthrough." On the other, the very success of the project, and the arcane language in w h i c h m u c h of it is conducted, leads to a feeling of exclusion, of " t h e m " leading us by the nose: we discover a character like Stanley Kubrick's Dr. S t r a n g e l o v e ; o r t h e f i z z i n g l a b o r a t o r i e s t h a t J a m e s B o n d s c u p p e r s f o r t h e g o o d o f u s all. T r i l o b i t e s , h o w e v e r , a r e i n n o c e n t o f all c h a r g e s . I s u s p e c t that the i m a g e of the palaeontologist is going to be m o r e Professor C a l c u l u s t h a n Dr. S t r a n g e l o v e . Try as I m i g h t I c a n n o t devise a scenario w h e r e b y trilobite science is appropriated by a totalitarium regime to oppress the people. " A h a , Mr. Bond! You have arrived just in time to witness the t r i u m p h of the trilobites, and the end of the h u m a n race." I w o u l d guess that 80 per cent of scientific e n d e a v o u r is as innocent of m o r a l implications as the trilobites. O d d l y e n o u g h , it is precisely because of the harmlessness of such research that it is m o r e difficult to f u n d ; the o n l y s c i e n c e that n e v e r h a s to fight for funding is that w i t h military or m e d i c a l significance. S o a p l a g u e o n all t h e E d g a r A l l a n P o e s o f o u r t i m e ! T h e truly dull realities of w h i c h they s p e a k are the p r o b l e m s of getting financial support to do w o r k w h i c h is not going to yield a commodity marketable within the twelvemonth, which is w h e n the accountants w h e e l out their electronic abacuses. To determine what is really of value, it is necessary to take an altogether longer view. Consider, for e x a m p l e , the general fascination
with
dinosaurs,
and
recall
that
it
was
devoted,
p a i n s t a k i n g s c i e n t i s t s w h o first p i e c e d t o g e t h e r t h e s e f a n tastical animals. S o m e t i m e s this processs t o o k a d e c a d e : digging, preparing, piecing together disparate fragments, lastly putting
flesh
on
the
bones.
Imagine,
261
if
Tyrannosaurus
had