hopes that their efforts will uncover the purpose of life itself. Kurt Vonnegut mocks this technological prowess in his novel, Cat’s Cradle, by spinning a tale that examines the uselessness of science. Vonnegut views science as a revolutionary religion, one whose ‘rituals’ create destruction and chaos, and whose blind worshippers believe the one shameless lie: that science can improve humanity past its violent tendencies.

Scientists, the most devout followers of humanity’s modern religion, believe that they are saving the world with their knowledge, when in fact they are merely speeding up the time for Earth’s demise. Dr. Breed explains that science’s primary mantra is to find “new knowledge” so that “we have more truth to work with” (36). This truth that scientists seek is the purpose of life, the awareness of which will ‘improve’ humanity as a whole. But Vonnegut believes this quest for truth is actually a hoax, as scientists instead use their knowledge for the purpose of advancing their precious religion alone. Dr. Hoenikker sums up this blind following of science when he asks Miss Faust, a ‘non-believer’ of science, what ‘God’ and ‘Love’ are. Vonnegut mocks humanity’s dependence on fact and ‘truth’ by making his scientists mindless zombies, unable to see a bigger picture in the universe other than their facts and figures. These statistics many times blind scientists into believing that their work is ‘beneficial to humanity’. But although they may be armed with this ‘new knowledge’, scientists seem to lose humanity in the process of ‘learning the truth’. Marvin Breed tries to explain this phenomenon, when he wonders whether scientists were indeed born “stone-cold dead” (53), their souls devoid of anything except an obsession for knowledge. To the followers of science, knowledge is far more powerful than simple bombs or bullets. It is the link that humans need to assert their domination universally. Vonnegut believes that scientists long to possess this power hidden within new knowledge, and their inventions are destructive manifestations of this power. Thus, the followers of science continue to toil onward with their experiments, not realizing that the truth they seek will validate their religion, but also destroy the world.

Vonnegut believes that the followers of science use ‘experimentation’ as an excuse for venerating their religion, therefore justifying whatever destructive weapons they may create. This central ritual of science turns the world into a toy, allowing scientists to try and manipulate their environment, with dangerous effects. Frank Hoenikker, son of a scientist, ‘experimented’ with watching bugs attack and kill each other, all for the purpose of his entertainment. Scientists are like children playing with fire, unable to see the consequences of their actions until someone gets hurt. Scientists enjoy experimenting because it is the most direct way of worshipping their religion, even if the result of this practice comes in the form of weapons such as ice-nine. Dr. Hoenikker “played puddly games with pots and pans and ice-nine” (166), as if the weapon were just a toy. The result of his childish experiments eventually would bring about Hoenikker’s death, along with an icy doom to the world itself. When scientists experiment with the powers of Death, they open a Pandora’s Box that entices them to create even more inventive ways to kill other humans. Despite the idea that their work actually