Does Truth Matter?

Growing up with two scientists for parents, I was always told to question everything, to think critically, to always seek out the truth. From a young age, I felt as though I needed to understand everything around me. How did the microwave work? Why was the sky blue? This curiosity still lives within me, yet it has waned dramatically. I no longer care how the microwave heats my food, I only care that it is hot. Do I lack the ability to comprehend the world around me, or am I simply mature enough to accept that knowing the absolute truth is not essential in my life? While reading Cat’s Cradle, I saw these three distinct ways of approaching truth and knowledge in our world. First, there are the scientists, the seekers of truth, who inhabit a small, isolated world where research and the discovery of truth are viewed as the means to an ideal human existence. The remaining majority are the non-scientists, the people who believe, like I sometimes do, they lack the ability to comprehend the truth. Finally, there are the Bokonists, who dismiss the quest for truth altogether. Bokonists are not scientists, they do not spent hours seeking out truth, nor are they non-scientists, spending their lives in a clueless limbo, feeling hopeless to understand the scientist’s mind. Instead, they are content with their reality, understanding that the truth is not the key to humanity.

            In the minds of scientists, there are no unanswerable questions, no sense of limitation for discovery. They have convinced themselves that “the more truth we have, the richer we become” (41). It becomes evident, however, that gaining such knowledge does not bring us closer to the ideal society. New knowledge instead creates destructive forces, such as the atomic bomb and ice nine, that threaten humanity as a whole and create questions of morality that scientists fail to understand. The deeper scientific discovery takes them, the farther the scientists are taken from their own humanity. Just as my curious younger self would ask questions that could not be answered, the scientists are dealing with a world where truth cannot be found and one discovery only leads to more unsolvable concepts.

On the other side are the non-scientists, the everyday people who cannot comprehend the “truths” being discovered around them. Miss Pefko explained to Jonah that she used to be able to explain what happened in the laboratory, yet when asked now, she can only respond with “I dunno…” (34). A clear divide exists and is rapidly widening between the scientists and non-scientists as they approach the concept of truth and knowledge. The hostility is shown especially strong in the secretaries, who “hate anybody who thought too much” (33). The non-scientists are told the truth is important, yet they are given no way to find it. They are lost in the world at the mercy of the scientists’ minds.

Unlike the rest of humanity, the Bokonists are content with their ignorance of the truth. Instead of feeling as if they are missing the truth, they can live happily knowing its absence does not affect them. They understand that truth and lies are interchangeable and irrelevant concepts. I realized after reading this section of Cat’s Cradle that my view is actually a combination of these three distinct mindsets. I do not seek out the answer to every question on earth and I do not feel lost and isolated when an answer cannot be found. I can see the situation, and realize that the truth, all by itself, is not always necessary for my happiness.