The Irony of Human "Progress." How Our Destruction of Nature Lead to The Outbreak of Covid-19

For one of my assignments I described the irony of social “progress” illustrated in Stanley Kubrick’s film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” Although the movie itself depicts the absurdity of the Cold War conveyed through black comedy, I want to specifically focus on the paradox of man-made technology, and so-called “progress,” and further compare it to the current situation related to the coronavirus. 

Here’s a quick overview of the film just so you can grasp what I’m talking about. At the end of the film, the director introduces the audience to one and only Dr.Strangelove who is a disabled, mad, former german scientist. In the final scenes Kubrick purposely depicts the vicious fight between Dr.Strangelove and his prosthetic arm. Although he forcefully resists his belief system, he ultimately gives into his Natzi habits and allows his prosthetic arm to uncontrollably shoot up. The irony of the scene lies within the relationship between the man-made technology and Dr.Strangelove's prosthetic arm. Furthermore, Kubrick shows how the society continues to make scientific “progress,” however, at the end there are always glitches, risks, and disadvantages. It’s ironic how something man-made can result in the loss of control. Overall, Kubrick indicates that the scientific “progress” can’t be controlled and eventually leads to destruction. 

I believe that we’re currently in the same situation with the Covid-19. We continue to make the so-called “process” by creating corporations, factories, urban cities, new technologies, and now our actions backfired at us.  I read a very interesting article connecting our destruction of the natural habitat to the outbreak of the coronavirus (link below). Moreover, “a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19 (The Guardian). I absolutely agree with that statement. “We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.” The resulting transmission of disease from wildlife to humans, is “a hidden cost of human economic development. There are just so many more of us, in every environment. We are going into largely undisturbed places and being exposed more and more. We are creating habitats where viruses are transmitted more easily, and then we are surprised that we have new ones.” (The Guardian)

Our biggest danger these days are not wars or nuclear weapons, but novel virus outbreaks. In fact, “we are at the very tip of the iceberg.” In my personal opinion, Covid-19 is just a beginning. We’ve already seen how viruses can negatively affect our world. We lived through Ebola, Swine flu, SARS, and many more diseases that were contracted from animals. If we continue to disrespect our earth the way we did for the past years, we will live through another pandemic. The article also included many statements from the scientists. One of the interviewees was Kate Jones - chair of ecology and biodiversity at UCL. She claimed that the emerging animal-borne infectious diseases are increasing. If we look back at the history we can see that we face viruses more frequently than ever before. (The Guardian)

With that being said, I hope that we, as a society, can learn from this experience. And while there are a lot of negatives to this situation, we should focus on the positives. Here are few facts to brighten up your day. We’ve seen the decrease in air pollution. We’ve seen clear canals in Venice that actually have animals living in it now. We’ve seen wild animals freely walking like never before. We should look at the effects of our environment healing and learn from it. I truly hope that after the virus has ended we won’t be closing our borders and turning against each other. I hope that we will be able to study the past, and improve. I hope that we will come together and be respectful to each other and the environment we live in. Because if we continue to prove Kubrick’s point of making the so-called “progress,” we will face another pandemic.

Penguins enjoying the aquarium since it’s shut down to the public

Pollution decrease in China 

Clear canals in Venice

I encourage you to read a full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/18/tip-of-the-iceberg-is-our-destruction-of-nature-responsible-for-covid-19-aoe. 

That’s all for now! Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay home. 

By Ariana Cakala 

Works cited

Article Vidal, John. “'Tip of the Iceberg': Is Our Destruction of Nature Responsible for Covid-19?” The  Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Mar. 2020, 

Pictures Konstantinides, Anneta. “A Chicago Aquarium Is Letting Its Penguins Wander Freely and Meet the Other Animals after Closing Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Insider, Insider, 17 Mar. 2020

“Coronavirus: Nasa Images Show China Pollution Clear amid Slowdown.” BBC News, BBC, 29 Feb. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51691967.

“Venice Regains Its Magic As Travel Ban Keeps Visitors Away.” DMARGE, 29 Mar. 2020, www.dmarge.com/2020/03/venice-canals-water-quality.html.