[[DresdenCodak http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Me_Go_Too_Far.png]]
[[caption-width:224:''[[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/ He am play gods!]]'']]

->''He tampered in God's domain.''
-->-- '''''Bride of the Monster'''''

->''Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they '''could''', they didn't stop to think if they '''should'''.''
-->-- '''Dr. Ian Malcolm''', ''JurassicPark''

->''Science... Has failed... Our world! Science... has failed our Mother Earth!''
-->-- '''SystemOfADown''', ''Science''

Writers are not scientists. Whether it is because they perceive science as cold and emotionless, or because they just dislike science after failing physics in high school, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite luddism]] is an [[LuddWasRight all too common]] failing of writers in search of plot. The [[HarmonyVersusDiscipline typical theme]] is that some sort of advanced scientific research has GoneHorriblyWrong, [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters creating a monster]], causing an impending natural disaster and/or a massive government cover-up. The heroes typically discover the side-effects of the research and investigate, discover what's going on, and try to stop it.

The antagonist (almost always either corporate or military/government scientists -- and [[HotScientist not hot]]) refuses to believe that his work could be so badly flawed, [[ScaleOfScientificSins immoral]], or simply doesn't care about who gets hurt by it, insisting that the research is ''ForScience!'' They will generally use their influence with the government to make life difficult for the heroes, try to have them arrested and otherwise silenced, often leading to a shoot-out, jail break, or ChaseScene.

In the end, the scientist will be [[KarmicDeath destroyed by his own creation]], the heroes will be proven right, and through their efforts the world will be saved from the horror of science. Sometimes the theme is softened by the presence of TheProfessor among the heroes who represents a more reasonable take on the science involved.

This can often come off as a bit hypocritical, particularly when dealing with speculative fiction, as you get an {{Anvilicious}} message of [[FantasticAesop "everything we have so far is good, but we should stop now."]]

Nearly every RobotWar story is based off of this (except the ones where everything was all right, until humanity [[HumansAreBastards screwed it up by being jerks]] to the nice robots). There are a few popular current fields as well, like [[CloningBlues cloning]], [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic engineering]], and [[SinisterSurveillance surveillance]].

For obvious reasons, this is played down in series starring a ScienceHero, heroic android or RobotBuddy such as in some anime. It's more likely there will be a (still obvious) distinction between good and bad scientists. This is usually played up if the heroes are {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s, though.

Note that not every work with a MadScientist or a threat borne of science falls under this; it's only the case where Messing With Things You Ought Not To is blamed for the problems.

Related tropes include the MadScientist, TheEvilArmy, GovernmentConspiracy, CorruptCorporateExecutive, [[TheGovernment Government As Villain]], MrExposition, TechnicalPacifist, and WellIntentionedExtremist. The protagonist is often assisted by an AntiHero who used to work for the MadScientist, and frequently has to deal with a PointyHairedBoss. See also ScienceIsWrong. Polar opposite of most stories with a CampbellianHero.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:{{Anime}}]]
* The {{Aesop}} of the {{anime}} ''{{Blue Gender}}'' is that humanity should never have advanced beyond an agricultural society.
* Same for ''EarthMaidenArjuna''.
* ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', at least in the manga version (which goes longer than the anime), goes back and forth between playing this trope straight & subverting it. On the one hand, the world was destroyed in a nuclear war, on the other, [[spoiler:the kindly & wise BigCreepyCrawlies were actually created through bioengineering and so were the giant killer fungi which are actually helping to purify the Earth. In the end, this is left really ambiguous. Nausicaa destroys the giant machine that had been controlling the world from behind the scenes. And even this is ambiguous -- on the one hand, the computer had existed to allow humanity to survive and purify the earth. On the other, it existed to pre-program humanity's future and the manipulation of humanity, while ensuring its ultimate survival, was also causing the thousands of years of bloody conflict that persist past the destruction of the old society. It is also (at least implied) that the actual plan was to first destroy and the recreate humankind as a "better" version from specimen stored below the computer. Nausicaa believes that the natural order of life should prevail and that humanity needs to live or die without the benefits or burdens of the old technology. The ultimate question at the end is whether humanity can survive on their own or not -- though ''how'' they do that is left unsaid as well, making no mention of whether developing new Science would be bad or not.]]
** All of Miyazaki's environmental works play with this trope, and often seem to play it straight and subvert it at exactly the same time. ''PrincessMononoke'' shows both the destruction of nature and peaceful societies through technology, but also presenting the reality that the technology allows the previously weak to be strong and protect themselves. The end of the film is again left to the viewer to interpret which side, if either, had the high ground and where the characters must go from there. Not surprisingly, this movie was heavily inspired by the themes he explored in ''Nausicaa''. ''Spirited Away'' played this trope a little straighter -- [[spoiler: Haku is really the spirit of the Kohaku River, and lost his home due to the river being filled to make apartment buildings. Also, a particularly disgusting and smelly spirit is revealed to be a beautiful river spirit that was tainted by extreme pollution.]] It still never came out and advocated this trope directly.
* The main conflict presented in ''SteamBoy'' is: that though scientists try to help the world there will either be [[CorruptCorporateExecutive people who want to use it for profit]] or people who want use it for war. The protagonist's father is under the belief that science can save the world, the grandfather believes he is going too far, and the protagonist is neutral and just wants to make sure London doesn't get destroyed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* Lex Luthor, {{Superman}}'s archenemy, has long been a barometer of the great bogeyman of the era: from the 30s through the atomic age, as a mad scientist he played on readers' fears of science run rampant. (Later, he'd be a corporate shark in the '80s and a corrupt politician at the turn of the millennium.)
* ''{{Iron Man}}'' contains an interesting variant of this trope. Tony Stark himself is a brilliant [[strike:scientist]] ''engineer'', and his scientific discoveries are generally meant to benefit humankind... but Stark's enemies have repeatedly tried to steal his technology for their own selfish gain. Rather than science being inherently bad, the {{Aesop}} seems to be more that science can be either good ''or'' bad, depending on who's using it and for what purpose.
* ''[[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1295:qthe-only-hero-protecting-you-from-scienceq&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&Itemid=38 Hoverboy: The Only Hero Protecting You From Science!]]'' It should be noted, however, that Hoverboy is merely an [[StealthParody elaborate hoax.]] Probably.
* Subverted by the [[ThoseWackyNazis obvious Mengele analogue]] in a [[BadassNormal Boba]] [[StarWars Fett]] comic, in which Fett accepted a challenge to wipe out the crew of a [[strike: Nazi]] Imperial [[strike: flying concentration camp]] genocide ship. The Mengele-wannabe is asked by his boss what experiment he's doing; Wannabe admits, "I gave up all pretense of science long ago. I do this for pleasure."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* The original ''TheFly'', contrary to popular belief, wasn't so much this trope than 'Science must not be approached with carelessness'. It even compares it to a 'great adventure'. In DavidCronenberg's remake, this motif is absent altogether: just because it went disastrously wrong ''once'' doesn't mean that teleportation is irredeemably evil.
* Completely turned around by ''{{Darkman}}'', who, admittedly, was hideously deformed in a FreakLabAccident, but the accident in question was caused by TheMafia. When things are going bad, he reminds himself that "I'm a scientist!"
* The documentary ''Expelled'' [[GodwinsLaw explicitly compares evolutionary biology to Nazism.]] Ben Stein's interview comments on it are even worse, saying outright that "science leads you to killing people", as though taking a degree in the sciences turns you into an AxCrazy.
** Right down to insisting that the last time anyone in his family met scientists, they were being led into gas chambers. Which would of course [[NegativeContinuity contradict his film]], where he discusses all the scientists he's talked to and he's obviously alive. This troper thought it would be impossible to turn ''a visit to a concentration camp'' into a {{Narm}} but somehow the filmmakers managed it; if you want to watch the film whilst losing as little sanity as possible, substitute the infinitely more profound sequence from ''MichaelPalin's New Europe'' in its place.
---> It is said that science will dehumanise people and turn them into numbers. This is false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.
** This is even more ironic considering that the other major argument of the film is that intelligent design is legitimate science. Therefore, by Ben Stein's own logic, intelligent design also leads to killing people. Given that AdolfHitler believed in a course of human development that ''required'' outside intervention to create a master race, he shoots his own argument in the foot more than once.
* Inverted by ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'', where blunt force ''could'' kill the rhedosaurus, but it spread the beast's disease far and wide, and only our heroic scientist can figure out a way to kill the rhedosaurus ''and'' the disease. Luckily, and [[TheEvilArmy unusually]], the army guys are extremely cooperative.
* In the SoBadItsHorrible BMovie ''Bats'', MadScientist Dr. [=McCabe=] initially justifies creating the rampaging super intelligent omnivorous bats with the words "I'm a scientist! [[ForScience That's what we do!]]". No one finds this explanation even the slightest bit strange.
** He's absolutely right, too. This troper's city just got finished fighting off the Einstein strain of rampaging superintelligent bats, and is readying itself for the Galileo strain of super bats next week.
*** [[SaturdayNightLive "Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots."]]
* Averted in the original ''{{Godzilla}}'' in which sane scientist Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer ultimately kills Godzilla at the end. Of course, Serizawa is also very careful ''not'' to let his invention fall into the wrong hands by [[HeroicSacrifice dying alongside Godzilla]] and [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup burning all papers that contain information on the device]].
** Not quite so, ''Godzilla Vs Destroyah'' questions the use of the Oxygen Destroyah as it led to, 1) flesh-eating microbes that can strip organic matter immersed in water in seconds that evolve into; 2) car-sized monsters spewing beams that disintegrate material that possess oxygen molecules and are immune to bullets, flamethrowers etc, which combine into; 3) A flying Kaiju monster that has a beam weapon that is explicitly dangerous to Godzilla, and is able to repeatedly fight and win against the most powerful Godzilla (ie verging on irradiating the entire planet beyond radiation levels that life could possibly survive). It also questions whether the doctor's sacrifice was actually heroic as the Oxygen Destroyer was, compared to other methods, less likely to destroy cities or attempt to exterminate the human race.
** Played straight in ''Godzilla VS Biollante'' in which genetic engineering causes the birth of a giant Godzilla-Rose hybrid monster (Biollante) with a human female soul. No... really...
*** On the other hand, the scientists creating the Anti-Nuclear Bacteria is an aversion since it actually is one of the few things that can stop Godzilla. Despite the hero's fear that it will create another monster. That's right, a hero is proven wrong.
** Then again, it was our evil sciency nuclear weapons testing that ''created'' Godzilla in the first place. SoYeah.
* ''Bride of Frankenstein'' partially, and unexpectedly, subverts this. The reformed Dr. Frankenstein is forced by evil MadScientist Dr. Pretorius to return to his old ways. The twist: Early on, Pretorious shows us his collection of tiny humans in glass jars, practically announcing that he's Mephistopheles. To this, Frankenstein replies, horrified, "This isn't science!" Here, sane Science Is Good, and has standards, but MagicIsBad.
* The 2007 and 2009 Live Action ''{{Transformers}}'' movies partially avert and partially embrace this trope. It is not so much science which is bad, but technology -- and then only Decepticon technology. Since all human technology since the early 20th century is based on knowledge and systems gleaned from studying Megatron, that means all modern human technology is inherently evil -- as proven by its behavior when animated by exposure to the Cube. Presumably technology arrived at by studying Autobots would in turn be inherently good.
** WordOfGod states that they're more like animals and frightened because they don't know what's going on.
*** Which made sense in the first movie, but not the second, where the appliance-bots immediately organize and hunt down Sam.
* ''EventHorizon''. At one point the inventor of the gravity warp drive (which turns out to be a pretty evil warp drive) proclaims: "Captain, there's no danger... It's contained behind three magnetic fields, it's perfectly safe!" Oh science, what are you like?
** Is this a true example? Given what eventually happens, it could be that he [[spoiler:knows very well it isn't safe and is leading them to their doom]].
* ''[=~GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra~=]'' does this on a disgusting scale. Nanotechnology is the primary villain, both as gray-goo-inducing nanite warheads and as nanite injections that create superhuman flunkies for [[BigBad Cobra]]. There are many scientists involved in Cobra, and the only Joe scientist seen actually [[StrawVulcan doesn't believe in having emotions]]; [[spoiler: she seems to find happiness with Ripcord mainly by sacrificing (what she sees as) her scientific principles.]] Apparently, scientists can't be trusted: [[spoiler: Rex [[FaceHeelTurn switches sides]] because they have nanotechnology]]. Three or four successive Cobra scientists have a catchphrase of "science requires sacrifice", generally repeated when they inject a witches' brew of nanites into someone's bloodstream.
**Debateable; more like 'Science is Bad if used by evil'. The Joes also rely on advanced technology to say the day, and ultimately the film doesn't put much focus on any sort of message regarding science. Furthermore, the last sentence is false; the statement is only clear uttered once, and Cobra only has two scientist characters. We do see sympathetic scientists in the Paris segment.
* Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - while one could argue that Stein's DocumentaryOfLies is just a big AuthorFilibuster for the purposes of pushing his Creationist agenda, given the fact that the film begins with footage of concentration camps and Stein and several of those on his side feel the need to plainly state that evolution leads to the Holocaust, it tends to fall more on the side of ScienceIsBad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* This is ''not'' the point of ''{{Frankenstein}}''. In the novel by MaryShelley, the point of the story is that Doctor Frankenstein brought a creature into the world and allowed it to turn to evil by treating it like a monster. However, this ''is'' the point of just about every film adaptation of the story, which almost always deliver an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]].
** Making the film versions either AdaptationDecay or DidNotDoTheResearch, as Victor Frankenstein is a scientist in name only, performs nothing that could be referred to as science with a straight face, and none of the story's conflicts have anything to do with science whatsoever.
*** With the surprising exception of the MelBrooks parody ''Young Frankenstein'', in which the titular scientist succeeds where his ancestor failed by accepting his creation like a loving father. When a group of his colleagues recoil in horror at the creature, he admonishes them "We are not children! We are scientists!", and the only real flaw in his creation (its permanently child-like, limited mind) is fixed by ''another'' scientific prodedure, which Frankenstein risks his life to carry out.
*** Stephen Jay Gould wrote one essay as a good-natured correction to people who thought ''Frankenstein'' was based around ScienceIsBad, pointing out that while Shelley admits that being too excessive in a pursuit is usually a bad thing, ''all'' her examples were ''political''.
* In {{Anne McCaffrey}}'s [[DragonridersOfPern Pern]] novels, some of the natives regard the newly rediscovered supercomputer as evil and try to destroy or discredit it, either through superstition or fear of change. But Pern is actually a subversion -- the planet was originally settled by people who wanted to leave their technology behind. They did, and suffered. It was eventually ''returning'' to the technological state which saved them.
* ''Completely inverted'' in the writings of GregEgan.
* Very definitely ''subverted'' in ''TheGeneral'' series where science and advanced technology are clearly demonstrated to be key not only to Human comfort but the fulfillment of Human potential. In other words it's hard to lead a full and rewarding life as a barefoot peon.
* HPLovecraft goes a step further, though it's [[FantasticAesop not just science]]; H.P. Lovecraft's stories had a recurring theme that [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow ''wanting to know more about the world'']] would inevitably lead to insanity and corruption. Even without [[CosmicHorror Cthulhu and company]], he still was very much an author of the Romantic movement with a virtually pathological fear of human progress.
** Note that not all Romantic literary figures subscribed to ScienceIsBad. Percy Shelley and Walt Whitman were both well educated in scientific matters.
** Also, the recurring theme in Lovecraft's stories could be just as easily considered to be 'what you ''don't'' know about the world can kill you in horrible ways' nowadays -- that is, a ''criticism'' of the whole 'science is bad and ignoring uncomfortable truths makes them go away' concept. Might be deliberate or just a case of ValuesDissonance.
** Lovecraft had a love-hate relationship with science. On one hand he was delighted and inspired by its discoveries, but on the other he found it horribly formulaic and unimaginative (complaints he also had about mainstream religion). His short story, ''Silver Key'' pretty much summarizes his less than flattering thoughts towards ''all'' forms of mainstream thinking.
* ''OryxandCrake'' has more than a hint of this.
* Every book by Michael Crichton, [[MisaimedFandom a good deal of which got a lot of people interested in science]]. MichaelCrichton himself subverts this trope in that he was a big ''proponent'' of science and more science education.
* ''[[MaximumRide Maximum Ride]]'' loves this. No scientist character is ever good. Nothing science ever accomplishes is ever for the good.
* ''The Birthmark'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne concludes with the [[AnAesop aesop]] that [[spoiler:people shouldn't attempt to play God by improving on nature]]
* Nearly everything by Neal Stephenson subverts this trope
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* A recurring theme in the ''OuterLimits''. It is the basis for the plot of many (though not all) of its episodes.
* The entire plot of ''{{Surface}}''.
** That's not true, one of the main characters was a scientist. There was another scientist who helped them out. This is really more along the lines of an EvilConspiracy.
* In ''DoctorWho'', science is usually the cause of evil, and science (in the form of the Doctor) usually saves the day. Whether or not it uses this trope depends on the specific episode.
** Two words: Pertwee Era.
** New Who is more a case of "The Advance of Science by Humanity is only 'Good' when a shell-shocked or manic-depressive, time-travelling immortal gives you a big tick of approval. Not having this 'tick' can be very, very bad..."
* The Initiative in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is an arguable example. Whedon has said the idea was to create a conflict between science and magic, and when that happens, of course, magic eventually kicks science's ass. The Initiative goes on recon to study the habits of vampires and captures them so they can do further tests, all to [[DoingInTheWizard better understand how they work and how they can best be contained]]. Buffy just stakes 'em. Guess which works better?
** However, it's worth noting that all the flaws of the Initiative are caused, not by Science being bad, but by the arrogance and in some cases raw stupidity of the military involved in running the Initiative. It's not so much that ScienceIsBad, more that People Are Dumb.
** And to be honest, [[BrokenAesop the Initiative would have worked perfectly if Maggie Walsh hadn't been completely insane.]] They even set in motion the chain of events that would eventually save the world (giving Spike a chip led to him getting a soul, leading to him sacrifice himself to defeat the First Evil).
** A scene where the Initiative briefing its soldiers about a demon's height, weight, and appearance is intercut with the Scooby Gang finding much more detailed and useful, if poetically phrased, information about it in an old book in "Doomed" is of interest here. Whoever wrote these ancient texts had to research the demons in question, which is science. One of the Initiative's problems was trying to reinvent the wheel. That, and ArbitrarySkepticism about very real things like the Slayer.
* ''StarTrek'', despite being the best-known SpeculativeFiction series, often dipped its toe into this trope. Worked on a sort of sliding scale, where the level of science the Federation had at that particular point in the episode was the exact right amount and trying to advance beyond that was just asking for the technological equivalent of [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin not being able to get away with a damn thing]]. Offscreen advance of science: good. Onscreen advance of science: bad.
** Put that way, it points out that StatusQuoIsGod is sometimes what prevents scientific advancement.
** In fact, the Borg are basically ScienceIsBad personified.
*** The Borg were surprisingly rarely actually used to make that message (except maybe in some later Voyager episodes). Early on, when they were still very mysterious, the science wasn't an issue since so little was known about it. They were all about the evils of the loss of individualism.
* ''{{Fringe}}'' seems to take a stance of science being both bad ''and'' good, since its used to both cause ''and'' help solve the Freaky MysteryOfTheWeek!
* Nicely subverted in ''{{Stargate SG-1}},'' in which a recurring theme is that the humans should develop their own technology at their own pace, rather than going up to other races and demanding that they share their technology (the usual effect being that the humans screw things up by messing with stuff they aren't ready for yet). As they grow and learn, they are eventually allowed to have other races' technology, but usually after they reverse engineer it first.
** Played with in the ''StargateAtlantis'' episode "Trinity," wherein [=McKay=] finds an abandoned Ancient experiment to produce limitless energy. It's regularly suggested that he is getting in over his head (The Ancients did not complete the program, and it went rather wrong). Despite constant protestations that this is a field they are simply not ready for, [=McKay=] continues. In the end he ends up destroying a Stellar System. While the episode plays the aesop straight, a later episode has a solution to the problems from the first time, and the attempt is assisted by an Asgard, the most technologically advanced race who will talk with humanity.
*** The Ancients' chronic tendency of leaving their [[PhlebotinumBreakdown less successful experiments]] lying around without so much as a warning for future generations who inevitably stumble into them is [[NeglectfulPrecursors a different trope]].
* On an episode of ''{{CSI}}: NY'', this trope is used to demonize the science of Genetics. Run that through your mind again: ''CSI'', the ''crime and science show,'' demonized a ''science.'' It starts off with a supposed dead man being stolen from the back of the van that was bringing it to the morgue. Then the body is dumped in the river, fished out and then found to be alive... brain dead, but alive. They find their way to a genetics research lab that's making goats produce silk in their milk and rats grow ears on their backs. Even when the scientist in charge explains the benefits of it (silk in bulk, replacing a lost body part) the cops just remark about how weird it is and when they leave say that it was just plain wrong. The main character going so far as to say progress was great, "but should've stopped." Turns out the genetics lab induced human hibernation on the victim, which the victim was involved in voluntarily and by accident the vic took too much of the mixture they created too fast. He ran out choking and collapsed. They stole him from the van thinking he was alive, thought he was dead when they couldn't revive him and dumped him before they got in more trouble for their unethical experiments. When confronted by this news the head scientist can only remark about his delight that it worked and lists off all the benefits like prolonged space travel and how he will be famous. The second suspect tries to tell the cops how putting them away will "shut the door on the future" as [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup no one else knows the formula but them]], but to the cops the complicated issue is simple, they commited attempted murder (even though they thought the guy was already dead) and are going to jail. It's not "robot apocalypse" or "mutant monster" worthy, but it still denotes the same thing. Science is weird... and bad. Specifically genetics. And this is show that lives off of science! Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
** It's ''CSI: NY.'' It's pretty much only technically a ''CSI'' show, and is closer to being a ''Law & Order'' clone, where stuff like this is more common.
** It's particularly ridiculous when one remembers that genetics revolutionized crime scene investigation, with such advances such as DNA fingerprinting.
* ''EleventhHour'' generally runs on this trope, as should be expected of a show about a duo that takes down people who apply new technology unethically. However, it does at times subvert this trope, emphasizing the potential good that can be done with stem cells, genetic engineering and the like.
* Most of the new ''BattlestarGalactica'' avoids this, but the finale takes a great big swerve into WriterOnBoard territory. [[spoiler:First, everybody decides to chuck their technology and revert to hunter-gatherer barbarism in the hopes that their descendants will do better. Second, Ron Moore confirms that, after a thoughtful examination of how difficult it is to break the cycle of revenge, he chucked the metaphor and explained that [[http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/03/battlestar_galactica_ronald_d.html he's scared of our new Japanese robot overlords]].]] Wall. ''Bang''.
** [[spoiler: well at least they were nice enough to give all their tech to the Robot Cylons who went off to make their own Empire]]
** [[spoiler: Not only will anybody that requires medical help die pretty quickly without all that advanced medical technology, a future robot war is sure to happen because nobody will be around to tell humans not to make robots, or at least be nice to them. Humans must really hate their selves.]]
** [[spoiler: Unless the difference between this iteration of the cycle and the previous ones is that the humans gave up their technology and adapted to the world, rather than try to uplift the native humans or try to build another New Caprica, hopefully leading to the civilization of 150,000 years later being mature enough to handle their technology without destroying themselves. Also, we have a half-cylon/half-human Mitochondrial Eve, so perhaps people will be nicer to robots anyway because they feel a connection with them.]]
** [[spoiler: On that note, ''Caprica'' will reportedly explore how the people of the Twelve Colonies were more careless and more in love with the glitzy possibilities of technology than we are.]]
* An episode of ''TheColbertReport'' featured Stephen interviewing the author of a book about robots and AI. The author pointed out that the West is largely wary of AI (see ''[[TwoThousandOne 2001]]'') while the East (especially Japan) generally sees AI as a positive thing (see ''AstroBoy''). Then again, most Western robots feature AI while most Eastern robots are mechas controlled by humans... I guess, like the Miyazaki poster below, it (will) all comes down to human responsibility.
** Stephen often says things like "I'm no fan of science," but seemed entirely keen on one specific form when hearing about a superlaser that concentrated laser beams into a small area to produce the temperatures and pressures of a star:
---> '''Stephen''': ''We have our own [[StarWars Death Star!]]''\\
''(Cue rain of black balloons and a big "WE HAVE OUR OWN DEATH STAR" sign flashing in the foreground)''
* An inversion in an episode of ''{{Sliders}}'' the gang ends up sliding to a world where all new technology was banned after the end of World War 2. This world's version of Quinn was killed by polio, and they convince Quinn's dad that technology is not bad and would have saved his son. He helps them to repair their timer with his dead son's illegal technology. Of course, the local Evil Corporation decides to steal the timer as they have been creating technology in secret so they can corner the market once the ban is lifted.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Music}}]]
* The entire ''01011001'' album by the metal opera group {{Ayreon}}. See the song "Unnatural Selection" for a particularly {{anvilicious}} example.
* SystemOfADown's "Science" is entirely devoted to explaining in detail how ScienceIsBad and has "failed us," as "spirit moves through all things." Performed on electric instruments.
* Styx's album ''KilroyWasHere'' includes some brief diatribes, not against science per se, but against technology:
-->The problem's plain to see\\
Too much technology\\
Machines to rule our lives\\
Machines dehumanize.\\
-- ''Mr. Roboto''
* The opening lines of the Aquabats song "The Cat With Two heads" are as follows:
-->Science! Brings wonders to the modern man,\\
Modern Man then continues, Continues to expand,\\
But what happens when man creates Something oh so Wrong?\\
Then Nature bites back in BIG WAY! Good heavens, what have I done??
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* WhiteWolf's ''[[WorldOfDarkness Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' and ''[[WorldOfDarkness Mage: The Ascension]]''.
** In ''Werewolf'', the [=PCs=] are basically shapechanging super-powered eco-terrorists.
*** This, in turn, is subverted with the blatantly technophile Glass Walker tribe of the Garou Nation. Unlike those who see the Weaver (the avatar of stasis and technology, as opposed to the natural/chaotic Wyld) as something to hold at a distance and attack on sight, they embrace it, to use for the good of all that lives and the defeat of the [[CosmicHorror Wyrm]] the Garou all oppose.
*** The same Glass Walkers, it should be noted, who are held in contempt by most of the rest of the tribes, and called "urrah". And towards the end of the gameline, it shifted so fault for the world lay more heavily upon the Weaver, who was the one who drove the Wyrm mad and has plans to calcify all reality. The Glass Walkers are portrayed as hopelessly naive about the Weaver.
** In ''Mage'', it's not so much that technology is bad as it is that people are taught that technology is the only way; in this world, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve reality is what people believe]], and believing there's no such thing as monsters or magic goes a long way to protect humans from the aforementioned shapechanging super-powered eco-terrorists and other supernatural beings out to victimize humanity. Unfortunately, this leads to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans giving up creativity and magic]]. Happily, as a counterexample proving that Science itself is not bad, we have the [[WeirdScience Etherites]] and [[PlayfulHacker Virtual Adepts]], and most members of the Technocratic Union (the main antagonists) are perfectly decent people who just happen to be on the wrong side from the players' point of view.
*** And it can be argued (and is, repeatedly), that the Traditions (were they to win) would fragment along their ideologies and do exactly the same as the Technocracy.
**** You can refer to the Renaissance-era ''Sorcerers' Crusade'' setting, when the Traditions (or their predecessors) ''were'' in charge to get a sense of that. But really, the Traditions are still seen as the good guys, just unable to get their acts together since the alternative is a bunch of Orwellian autocrats.
** ''ChangelingTheDreaming'' has a somewhat schizoid attitude towards science: it's the moon landing that opened the doors to Arcadia and allowed the Sidhe to return, but in general technology is seen as just chock-full of imagination-killing (and so changeling-killing) Banality, except maybe for the SteamPunk-ish gadgets of the Knockers.
** In the New World of Darkness, things have taken a step or two away. Werewolves still largely distrust technology, because it's done more to screw up the Shadow Realm than just about anything else, but they accept that it has a place and hold this version's technophile tribe, the Iron Masters, in better regard than their past counterparts. In fact, one of the ''antagonist'' Pure Tribes is given the "Luddites" hat (it's worth noting the Pure are ''very'' reminiscent of the Garou). Over in ''Mage'', things haven't changed as much; the Free Council, SpiritualSuccessor to the Virtual Adepts, are given short shrift largely because they're rather young and tend to make nuisances of themselves.
**...And then the trope is utterly subverted in the book about the [[BigBad Seers of the Throne]]. While one of their Ministries, the Pantechion does have a technological focus, it's more of the WallE "rely on robots" bit. All Seers, Pantechion included, ''hate'' advances in science, as the laws of nature descend from the Supernal, and as humanity learns about them, the closer they get to Awakening. So not only is Science Not Bad, it's actually rather Good, in this case.
** The fanmade ''GeniusTheTransgression'' certainly can give this vibe, but it's actually not an example since no comment is made on sane science -- or arguably a partial aversion since the further a Genius' beliefs differ from reality, the one sane scientists are so busy documenting, the easier it is to slip into outright grave-robbing, god-defying, blood-splattered MadScience.
* Kicked in the balls by ''CthulhuTech:'' the main reason why humans have a fighting chance is because science found a way to make Magitek and HumongousMecha.
-->'''Random Free Counciler:''' "Told you so!"
* Settings where CyberneticsEatYourSoul. Of course, most of these worlds are CyberPunk [[WorldHalfEmpty dystopias]], so they often feature the ScienceIsBad trope in other ways, too.
* ''SLAIndustries'', where it's probably impossible to count all the examples of "SLA tries to solve their problems by engineering a new breed of super-monster, but it goes nuts and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turns against them]]".
* ''{{Kult}}'', where "Victim Of Medical Experiments" is a viable Dark Secret for players. Oh, yeah, along with the fact that the growth of cities and technology is actually part of the breakdown of the illusion that is reality -- the illusion that's covering up the horrifying ''true'' reality underneath it.
* In ''{{GURPS}} Traveller Intersteller Wars'' this is averted. The Terrans are excited about science because they like everything new. The Vilani are not interested in advancement but only because their ancestors deliberately decided that it was coming to a point of diminishing returns, not that they hated it in principal. Most of the sympathy is with the Terrans although the Vilani are not treated without sympathy despite the fact that the word Vilani sounds like villain. Both sides are Federations and the chief cause of the war seems to be mutual arrogance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''LostOdyssey'' inverts this as technology is neutral and it's actually ''magic'' that's screwing with the natural order.
* Frequently a side plot of many ''FinalFantasy'' games, though never played straight.
** Arguably subverted in ''FinalFantasyX''. The characters (and the population of Spira in general) spend most of the game thinking that the BigBad was created as punishment for bad science, only to find out that [[spoiler:it's actually magic gone wrong.]] Boy, were they surprised. They eventually defeat the EldritchAbomination [[spoiler:with machines believed to be evil, instead of the religious ritual they were meant to use.]] By ''X-2'', both of the major factions (the Youth League and New Yevon) agree science is okay; their major disagreement is how fast it should be implemented (New Yevon being the more conservative faction).
** ''FinalFantasyVII'' waffles back and forth on this one. On the one hand, many of the characters rely on technology and science to live and get by, particularly after the events of the game itself. But characters like Hojo, who experiments on people purly to satisfy his own ego, rather than benefiting humanity, and the rest of Shinra Inc. tend to abuse it. Also, bear in mind the game's environmental message, and how going back to a simpler, rustic existence was seen as favourable to an advanced one.
*** ''FinalFantasyVII'' didn't condemn science, only science that was explicitly causing harm. ''Advent Children'' showed that everyone still lived in advanced societies -- just not Midgar, which wasn't a practical society anyway. Early in the movie, Barret was even doing his part to reshape the world by finding an energy supply that could supply the modern civilization with power without being nearly as damaging to the world as Mako.
*** The irony of the situation comes from the fact that ''we'' know that an economy founded on fossil fuels is ultimately not sustainable. So the great new energy source is nothing more than borrowed time and will only lead to ''more'' problems.
*** But then, considering the world just lost its primary power source, a quick and dirty method would be ''needed'' in order to research, develop and implement a more sustainable energy source. In other words, you don't go from coal (or mako) to solar power overnight.
** Also, without Shinra Inc.'s scientific advancement in the field of "Really Big Cannons", everyone would have been screwed. So there isn't really a science is bad thing here. It's more of a "science is only bad if you don't care about the consequences" thing.
** ''FinalFantasyVI'' doesn't beat around the bush. The problems start when Kefka is scientifically infused with magicite, driving him mad. One of the most memorable areas is the Magitek Research Facility, where Espers are captured and tortured to study their powers. While this theme dies down around the Floating Island, the message is still "Science caused this problem".
*** Like ''[=FF7=],'' the problem isn't science itself, but using it for evil purposes. The city of Narshe is only habitable because of the steam-powered heating, and this is presented as a good thing. Magic, a foreign element introduced to the world by three insane deities, doesn't come off as roses either -- and has to be ''destroyed'' at the end of the game whereas technology is allowed to continue again.
****FF6, swap "Magic" for "Power" and you'll get the idea of what the designers were trying to say. Power is by itself, nuetral. It is a means to an end. When power is lusted after, it destroys, much like Kefka used it to destroy the world.
* TheEmpire of the ''BatenKaitos'' series are technology-crazy and believe that relying on magic or the power of one's own heart is archaic and limiting. The first game played it pretty much completely straight, but the second revealed that in the distant past, humanity was entirely dependent on and dangerously obsessed with magic and the power of one's own heart, leveling the scales a little. TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is still a massive flying techno-fortress that requires its inhabitants completely give up the natural, however.
* In ''{{Okami}}'' [[spoiler:the final boss Yami, god of darkness is said to be the source of Technology, taking a Mechanical form for most of the battle and the official bosses before him, Lechku and Nechku were robotic clockwork owls]]. A mild aversion is the fact that Waka's Tao Warriors use {{Magitek}} computers and the Moon Tribe apparently do have some access to advanced technology.
** Keep in mind that this game takes place during mythological Japan, making even ''more'' sense.
* ''{{Mother 3}}'' heavily suggests that the proliferation of technology would bring about the world's downfall ([[spoiler:''twice'']]), especially given how certain scenery transforms as the game progresses. Though it seems to hint more at an [[{{Eagleland}} American Culture Is Bad]] message...
** Which is really ironic given how the first two games celebrated modern society and used the setting as an AffectionateParody of [[{{Eagleland}} American culture]].
* Parodied, averted, and subverted in ''[[{{Fallout}} Fallout 3]].'' The most prominent case is Doctor Lesko, a wannabe MadScientist who [[spoiler:created the fire ants that destroyed Grayditch]] in an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong. Despite this, the game makes it clear that Lesko is merely stupid, not evil, and [[ScienceHero science-oriented players]] have the opportunity to lecture on him on proper experimental procedure.
* ''Crystalis'' takes place 100 years after a nuclear war ends civilization. Since then, the people have abandoned science in favor of magic.
* ''MassEffect''. Whenever you so much as hear about any kind of research project you can bet it's either been overrun by the monsters they were studying and/or making or a MadScientist human experiment. Or both.
** Note that most of the experiments can be traced back to are Cerebus or Saren. The exception is the VI experiment on the Moon and that was more of a FailsafeFailure that they have no idea how it happened. And [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr Heart]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Practically every episode of the first season of ''SuperFriends'' focused not on a villain but on a WellIntentionedExtremist, a MadScientist or a regular scientist whose invention accidentally runs amok.
** Particularly painful was an early episode in which a scientist gains hyper-intelligence (and a cartoonishly enlarged cranium) due to some sort of radiation experiment, and rather than use his superior intellect to take over the world, decides to broadcast the rays so that ''everyone'' on Earth can enjoy the same radically evolved intelligence as him. Thank god the Justice League saved us from the horrifying fate of becoming smarter!
* Dr. Blight from ''CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' is the show's resident embodiment of the trope.
** However this was ''subverted'' in the episode "The Unbearable Blightness of Being": in the beginning of that episode, Gaia expresses her loathing of technology and how it is destroying the environment. Shortly afterwards, Blight uses her latest invention to [[FreakyFriday switch bodies]] with Gaia (despite her being, you know, [[FridgeLogic The Spirit of The Earth]]) and use her powers to wreak havoc. Gaia, trapped in Blight's body, then proceeds to use Blight's gadgets to undo some of her damage. When the crisis is resolved, Gaia then states ''she'' learned AnAesop on how technology can be ''good'' for the environment as long as it's in the right hands. The subsequent [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle "Planeteer Alert"]] then urges the viewer to use "green technology". The show then subsequently forgets this moral and reverts right back to condemning technology and the advancement of civilization for the rest of the series.
*** Also note that the Planeteers have some unexpectedly advanced vehicles such as their eco-cruiser, eco-sub et al. There's little mention where they got those, nor do they try to make the technology available for public use.
* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons,'' with the ignorant townsfolk going on an anti-science riot, including attacking the Museum of Natural History, with Moe smashing a mammoth skeleton, having it land on his back and crying "Oh! My back! I'm paralyzed! I only hope medical science can cure me!"
** Another episode showed a similar mob set to burn Principal Skinner at the stake for insisting that the earth revolves around the sun.
** In the episode "Bart's Comet", when the titular comet burns up in Springfield's polluted atmosphere instead of destroying the town as predicted, Moe shouts "Let's go burn down the observatory so this never happens again!". Cue the angry mob.
** And in another episode, Lisa's class is shown a "documentary" in which Darwin makes out with Satan and the title of his book "The Origin of Species" is smeared on the screen with blood.
*** Sadly this isn't too far off from "documentaries" actually made by creationists, see [[http://www.expelledexposed.com Expelled]] under film below. An example of PoesLaw.
* Delightfully parodied in any episode of ''TheAngryBeavers'' where they feature B-Movie star Oxnard Montalvo. ("The crawling spleen has grown an opposable thumb!")
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Brutally satirized in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/ this]] DresdenCodak strip.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Every odd technology article on cracked.com.
** Justified in that, since Cracked is an entertainment site first and a news site fifty-seventh, it makes sense to make every other article "Seven ways X Scientific Advancement can Entertainingly Kill You." The other half tend to be "Eight More Animals That Can Horribly Kill You."
** Also hilariously subverted on occasion, for instance [[http://www.cracked.com/article_16787_7-kickass-sci-fi-cancer-cures.html 7 Kickass Sci-Fi Cancer Cures]].
* Subverted in a strange and depressing sort of way by Arch Oboler's ''Lights Out'' radio short [[http://thethunderchild.com/RadioDrama/LightsOut/TheChickenHeart.html "Chicken Heart"]] (as made famous by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPimtcK3-A Bill Cosby]]); the scientist responsible for creating the spreading, cancerous blob of chicken muscle knows exactly how to stop the monster, but he can't get the authorities to [[{{Cloverfield}} drop the hammer]] in time or with enough force. [[spoiler: If only they'd known about the monster-retardant properties of Jell-O.]]
* In the words of Jean Baudrillard in ''The Procession of Simulacra'', "Science never sacrifices itself. It is always murderous."
** Keep in mind that he didn't think science was inherently bad, despite that quote.
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

* In ''HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences,'' the "Combines" come from science and outer space.
** And science also makes [[spoiler: Gordon Freeman]] tricked and live and strong and big.

[[folder:RealLife]]
* Everything can be bad. Because often HumansAreBastards.
** It's an aversion because most of it helps. Science doesn't do anything evil that enough motivated people wielding a rock can't do themselves, it just allows it to be done with less people. It does however allow people to build and create helpful things that noone can using only their hands and whatever materials they have around that aren't tools(MRI, filtered water, cars, medicine because the trial and error of plants to find out their effects is science, internet, food without any parasite remains in it after cooking, etc, etc.)
**Quite. But things are the more likely to be bad if one doesn't remember that everything can be bad. That point is hardly an insult to science.
[[/folder]]
----
<<|NarrativeDevices|>>
<<|PowerAtAPrice|>>
<<|AntiIntellectualism|>>