Death, Destroyer of Worlds

Disclaimer: This is less of a cleanly-finished piece as it is an attempt to formulate an idea and actively think through the questions raised. It may read as such.

Masterclass

The previous weekend brought the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a film that I went and saw twice over the span of 26 hours. Following the first viewing, I walked to my car in silence, unsure where to begin in the unpacking of what I watched. Upon the second viewing, I picked up on more detail and subtleties, allowing me to better analyze the production itself as well as the deeply embedded philosophical questions of morality raised. 

Nolan’s film is based on the book, American Prometheus which covers the life and details of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer who was tasked with operating the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb that ended World War II. The film performs a masterful job of forcing the viewer to examine deep questions about humanity, and so we shall.

Dostoevsky

The greatest and most fundamental human desire, greater than that of self-interest, is the desire for free will. Freedom to do great things, freedom to do terrible things, and the freedom to do nothing at all. Free will, rather than self-interest, is a deeper underlying desire based on the fact that we often exhibit self-sabotaging behavior that works against our best interest, an idea linked to Freud’s “Death Drive.” Our often irrational behavior is our way to exert our free will.

Prometheus

In ancient Greek mythology, the human race was suffering and completely reliant on the Gods who desired to be worshipped above all else. The clever and brilliant Titan, Prometheus, cared deeply for humanity and desired for them to become liberated and flourish so he stole fire from the gods and presented it to humans. Zeus, who did not want humans to be gifted with fire and forbid Prometheus from giving it to them, stating, “No human may use fire on Earth, neither to cook with nor to keep warm. You will be blinded by the dark of night and you will never forget how powerful the Gods are, and how it is by our power you have any food or warmth at all. Perhaps then you will remember to always worship us properly and not challenge us with these tricks again.” Zeus then sentenced Prometheus to an eternity of torture until he is eventually freed by Zeus’ son Hercules. Through Prometheus, humans learned science, technology, math, and architecture, using it to construct civilizations as well as wreaking havoc and enslaving their fellow man. With these newly attained tools, humans questioned the utility of the Gods and went so far as to consider themselves divine.

Paradise Lost

I compare and contrast the myth of Prometheus, the film Oppenheimer, and Christianity’s Garden of Eden, both biblically and secularly in Milton’s Paradise Lost. All three stories break down to the fundamental idea of previously unknown knowledge being handed to a race that no longer allowed them to live in ignorance and innocence, but gave them a tool that’d go on to be used for good and evil. In the case of the physics within Oppenheimer, the harnessing of the power of the atom, unlocking a form of energy never before known to humanity. In Paradise Lost or the biblical story of Eden, Satan, representing chaos, presents humans with knowledge represented by the forbidden fruit to which they accept. In God’s punishment for humans losing their innocence and becoming conscious, they were expelled from eternal paradise and forced to enter a world of chaos. This desire to seek freedom rather than servitude ushered in the introduction of previously unknown chaos and the ability to destroy both civilization and The Self. As in the case of Prometheus, Oppenheimer, and man’s expulsion from paradise, with the knowledge to advance as a civilization, also comes the inevitable Fall of Man.

Paradox

An interesting dichotomy of the aforementioned figures can be found in the provided and or omitted context. In the instance of Prometheus, I do not know that we’re granted a glimpse into the Titan’s deepest desire, whether he was motivated by a profound love for humanity or if the Titan was instead motivated by the desire to be worshipped in place of Zeus and the Gods. With J. Robert Oppenheimer, “The Father of the Atomic Bomb,” we don’t know what lay within his subconscious, whether his most fundamental desire was to preserve freedom from tyranny or whether it was to satiate a deeper desire to feel like that of a God. When it comes to Satan, we have the added context from Christian theology that tells us Satan did not offer knowledge out of his love for humanity but because of the desire to corrupt God’s creation and to become worshipped by the creatures he claims to love but actually detests. 

While the intent of two of the three figures is unclear, what is clear is their level of intellect coupled with the negative traits of pride, arrogance, lack of moral integrity, and perhaps a lack of wisdom. To draw a line from the film, “Genius is no guarantee of wisdom.” To take it a step further, genius intellect often acts as a blinding agent against the attainment of wisdom through the downfall of pride. 

And with this, we arrive at the chief moral dilemma. Are Prometheus, Satan, and Oppenheimer heroes for giving humans freedom, or are they evil for providing humans with the ability to destroy themselves?

Entropy

When examining the question of morality regarding the introduction of knowledge and the atomic bomb to the human race, I don’t think it can be appropriately examined through the lens of right versus wrong. “Right versus wrong” is a limiting two-dimensional point of view, I believe this moral and philosophical dilemma demands a third-dimensional point of view that may tell us the introduction of new knowledge to the human race is neither good nor bad, a gift nor a curse, but simply, inevitable. 

In this cosmos, neither a constant state of heaven nor a permanent state of hell is possible, rather, there is an overarching force maintaining a balancing equilibrium between the two. If Hell is chaos and Heaven is order, the universe in which we reside is the midpoint between chaos and order. This idea is personified in physics through Newton’s Third Law which states, “For every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In other words, “water always finds level.” 

Knowledge is power, bringing about an increase in independence and free will, hence why authoritarian movements always seek to limit the spreading of information. With the introduction of knowledge comes the ability to create, expand, and do good, however, the tragedy of our existence is that the good will always be met with the bad and desire for destruction. Because of this, Utopia, that is, universal peace and prosperity on earth, is forever unattainable. Both ironically and tragically every attempt to usher in “Paradise on earth” tilts the scales too far on the side of order leading to the inevitable course-correcting chaos as means of returning to a state of cosmic balance.

Destiny

If we look at the example of Christian theology through the lens of philosophy, God, who is all-knowing, would not have been surprised by the attainment of knowledge and the fall of man. Moreover, If we operate under the presumption that God, the creator of humanity and all their inherent faults does not make mistakes, our expulsion from Eden (paradise) is not good nor bad, it’s both, it’s neither, it just “is.” Again, if we operate under the presumption that god is all-knowing and mistake-free, Satan himself was a necessary part of prophecy because human beings were created to exercise free will, whether to worship God or to deny him. Free will is not possible within a utopian state because such a state is perfect and we are inherently imperfect beings. 

In a universe in which matter can neither be created nor destroyed and is in a constant state of construction and destruction, dissolution and reformation, death and rebirth, the introduction of chaos to man whether in Eden, World War II America, or ancient Greece is not good nor evil but the natural state that we as humans were destined to arrive at. 

Therefore, our ability to reason our way to discover answers to the universe and the eventual splitting of the atom is simply another tool we would have inevitably used for both good and evil. Through the splitting of the atom and the harnessing of this previously unknown energy, we were always going to use it for good to fuel progress and prosperity through nuclear energy production and distribution as we were always going to use it as an agent of chaos through the creation of the atom bomb. When zeroing in on Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, once the ability to split the atom and harness the energy within was discovered, our innate desire as human beings for destruction would have inevitably led to the unleashing of the greatest weapon the world has ever seen upon our fellow man. From that perspective, we, and the broader world, are fortunate it was Oppenheimer and the United States who got there first.

Arjuna

At the moment of the first successful testing of the Atomic bomb, it’s been rumored that while looking upon the horror he created, Oppenheimer uttered the phrase, “Now I have become death, destroyer of worlds.” This, however, has come to be misunderstood. As explained by Wired, the source of the quote stems from the Bhagavad Gita, a “700-verse Hindu scripture, written in Sanskrit, that centers on a dialog between a great warrior prince named Arjuna and his charioteer Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. Facing an opposing army containing his friends and relatives, Arjuna is torn. But Krishna teaches him about a higher philosophy that will enable him to carry out his duties as a warrior irrespective of his personal concerns. This is known as the dharma, or holy duty.”

When it comes to the question of morality we’re presented with in the film, Oppenheimer was neither a benevolent man nor a malevolent man, he was simply a man. A necessary man whose talent was both a gift and a curse used as a tool to restore order in a world of unbalanced chaos. 

If Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost introduced man to chaos, Oppenheimer provided the world with order through the ending of the war and the ushering in of an unprecedented era of peace amongst nations and the expansion of a new liberal world order. 

Oppenheimer was not a man of moral integrity. However, perhaps, it is the mark of a great man who ascends during great times to utilize their great gifts to bring Order to Chaos. By that definition, Oppenheimer was indeed, a Great Man.

For in all Chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order, in all caprice a fixed law, for everything that works is grounded on its opposite.”

C.G. Jung