18 of 21

No

Write now Article Tools

This is an interesting question. From a scientific point of view, I am skeptical that in actuality hurricane diversion is even a feasible undertaking. How, exactly, can a rotating, moving mass of atmospheric energy and weather possibly get diverted off its course? By giant fans? By all the residents of the city blowing in the same direction at the same time? By erecting a diversion wall around said city? Really, I have a hard time believing hurricane diversion is possible.

If scientists somehow developed the technology to divert hurricanes away from their intended targets, the question then becomes a moral one. People may argue that in diverting the hurricane, you are saving more people, buildings, and other city components that are too valuable when compared with rural spaces. As a famous Vulcan once said, "the good of the many outweigh the good of the few, or the one."

However, if you remember the movie, in the end the Vulcan was proved wrong by his very Human friends. In some instances, the good of the one is the good that needs to be protected. In this case, there is no authority on this Earth high enough to determine which life is more valuable - the life of the city-dweller, or the life of the rural resident. This is a value judgment no human being on Earth is equipped to make. And how dare we even think that an individual, government, or other body could promote one group over another?

There have been some major weather catastrophes lately, and surely if diverting these storms was possible, it would be looked into. Steering storms off-track is a dream that we harbor, thinking about saving people from incredible damage, stress, sadness, and loss. The key to this, though, is that it remains a dream. Scientifically, steering storms and diverting catastrophic weather is as concrete as the clouds that form the storms - that is, not very. Morally, ethically, and legally, even if it were possible to guide or force storms off-course, there is no way that human beings could decree that one group of people is more valuable than another. There is no way to measure and weigh the good of the many against the good of the few - because we are human, we remember that each individual counts - it is the good of the one that matters. Let nature take its course.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Vose.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Should scientists be allowed to divert a hurricane away from a major city, dooming rural residents??
We want to hear your view. Write now!