HAS NEVER HAD IT BETTER
Trinity’s award-winning scientist
Professor Luke O’neill on guitar resistant to antibiotics and that would be terribly bad for humanity, that would increase diseases. And the big one’s global warming, which might wreck things for many people and cause huge deprivation.
“So it’s not a guarantee that things will get better but it does seem to be that the trajectory is up and up, mainly because of science and technology.”
Prof O’neill has faith people will strive to be the best they can.
He says: “Throughout history the good normally prevails. The lack of wars is a PROFESSOR Luke O’neill is a highly respected scientist whose expertise is in immunology. A professor of microbiology at Trinity College Dublin, his research focuses on inflammation and how the body responds to major trauma. His work has earned him many awards – most recently in May he won the Seymour and Vivian Milstein Award for world-leading research in deciphering the role of innate immunity in the host immune response.
big one in the last 60 years – there are pockets of wars going on and I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of those – but there’s no doubt there haven’t been major wars for a long time.
“As long as people continue to be educate, especially in countries where things are very poor, then you would hope this upward trend would continue.
“The big hope for the future is artificial intelligence, robotics. That should release us from drudgery.”
The other threat to the onward march
of civilisation is what Prof O’neill calls the “assholes”.
He says: “You can’t be complacent because there’s always the assholes. They always will emerge – history tells us this. As long as the assholes are taken to task then hopefully progress will continue but you’ve got to be on your guard.
“But I’m optimistic – I’m a glass halffull type of person and I do think if we keep doing science it means benefits for humanity. And that’s the goal of science – to improve things for Humankind.” So Pat Kenny Microbial life what have we learned from Professor Luke O’neill? I think it’s these three things: Trust in Science. Educate the people to make better decisions and, most important of all, beware of assholes.
Humanlogy: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Amazing Existence, by Professor Luke O’neill, is out now, published by Gill Books.
news@irishmirror.ie Mac Miller