The Scientific Goblins Are Gonna Git Us

"The Scientific Goblins Are Gonna Git Us" is a review of the collection Unless Peace Comes, edited by Nigel Calder, published in the book review section of Life Magazine on July 26, 1968.

Summary

"Little Orphant Annie"

In junior high, Vonnegut and his friends would make up forms of torture, which implicitly would cause troublemakers to promise never to do evil again or die so horribly that all who saw it would be compelled to behave well. That school was named after James Whitcomb Riley, who has a famous line in his poem Little Orphan (sic) Annie: "The Goblins are gonna git you if you don't watch out." The thirteen essays in this book are basically about numerous new and inventive tortures for use against evil. Distinguished scientists write about unstoppable war robots, gas that can kill instantly, weaponized diseases and Vonnegut realizes he must have gone to junior high with some pretty smart kids.

While most people eventually grow out of such fantasies, clearly some people never do and can make good money in the armaments trade. Their job is to determine how every new scientific discovery can be weaponized, no matter how seemingly useful and beneficial to humanity. All the essays in this book essentially ask if such people are insane and if the survival of the species can afford for science and warfare to exist together. Militarists have begun sounding smoother and more sorrowful, while their abilities to destroy everything increase exponentially. Now the goblins may not only get us, but our children, planet, maybe galaxy. Many young people aren't enthusiastic about careers in science anymore, and anyone who got past junior high can probably guess why.

See Also

• "Address to the American Physical Society", a speech on scientists and weapons research
• "The Worst Addiction of Them All", an article about people in society addicted to war preparation
• "Lecture on Science and Technology", given at M.I.T. about the moral responsibility of scientists