SUFFERING

          I have been thinking about science and suffering. 

          I became a scientist in part because I wanted to help people and alleviate suffering.  (The other part was avoiding the draft.)  Science is supposed to alleviate suffering, you know.  Instead I now find myself administering exams and writing columns, both of which may be excruciating to some people. 

          A lot of scientists seem to worry about suffering, although the people who seem to worry most about suffering are people who have never seemed to suffer very much.  Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hutchins, and other atheists are, or were, greatly exercised about suffering, although they themselves have University educations and live rather extravagant and indulgent life styles.  While atheism thrives in industrial nations, the suffering poor of the world seem to embrace religion. 

          Actually I’m not even sure what suffering is.  Presumably death qualifies, although I am not sure why since everyone gets to do that.  We often call surviving death suffering when the one who didn’t survive was a loved one.  Can a team actually suffer a loss?  I suppose pain is suffering, although pain exists on a kind of a continuum.  To what degree do we suffer?  If I skip meals in an effort to lose weight because I suffer from being overweight, am I still suffering? 

          I meet many people who are deathly afraid of being stung by a bee.  Yeah, it hurts, but I’m not sure I would call it suffering.  What about only having one shirt?  Is that suffering?  I guess that depends on how often you are able to do the laundry under those conditions.  What if you don’t own a car and have to live in a one room house?  Interestingly, many people who have to live under those conditions don’t act as if they are suffering at all.  I mean they laugh, love, play, get married, have children, and just have a good old time anyway.  In fact, they don’t seem to worry too much about suffering.  They often seem happier than me.         

          I’m not sure why scientists seem to worry about suffering so much.  Suffering isn’t a science, although my wife thinks I have turned it into such.  She just doesn’t understand how hard it is to be a professional windbag.  Sometimes my back just kills me from standing for all those lectures.  I wonder if being boring counts as a disability. 

          Science is supposed to deal with the real physical world.  I guess suffering feels real enough, but where is it?  Is there a tiny, fundamental particle of suffering out there of which all suffering is composed; like atoms or cells?   We could call it a sufferon.  Then we could classify suffering as to the number, kinds and arrangements of sufferons.  “Oh man!  I have seventeen sufferons today from talking so much!”  Or not.  This could really backfire on us when other people started counting and comparing their sufferons to ours.  Maybe it should remain a little vague.

          Many people seem to be concerned about who is responsible for suffering.  Interestingly, some seem to think it is God’s fault for not stopping it.  Shouldn’t they blame Satan for causing it?  Presumably God can interfere with Satan.  Can Satan interfere with God?  Apparently he can, when he causes suffering.  If God is a benevolent God then He would never cause suffering, even if He occasionally failed to prevent it.  So, who is guilty, the one who caused the suffering, or the one who failed to prevent it?  

          If a scientist fails to prevent suffering is the suffering his fault?  Is it enough to have tried to stop suffering or does it have to be actually stopped before God can take credit?  Well, thankfully, I don’t have to assign blame for suffering; I just have to alleviate it.  Unless suffering is my fault for not alleviating it like a good scientist should.  In that case, I can always blame God.