I’ll admit I was a little disappointed when I watched this movie. Although it does a good job of recreating many of the elements of the Manhattan Project (most of the factual occurances in the movie are true, or at least reasonably close to the truth), I thought the portrayal of the characters lacked any real depth. This was particularly disappointing for me because each of the past two summers I have read biographies of two of the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman. I can assure you both men were much more conflicted, quirky, brilliant, and interesting than they were portrayed in the movie. Nevertheless, the movie manages to convey the main dilemma I want you to comment on in your blogs this week: the morality of having scientists design and build weapons of mass destruction. Many scientists who do this hide behind one of the moral shields presented in the movie: the scientists are only responsible for developing the weapons, not using them. Other scientists openly embrace their role. Edward Teller was one prominent Manhattan Project scientist who felt that the only way to keep the world safe was for the United States to have weapons of such terror that no other nation would dare to step too far out of line. Even after WWII ended, Teller advocated further development of atomic and then nuclear weapons. In a very real sense, he was the architect of America’s modern nuclear arsenal. Still other scientists have felt that there is no way to divorce the results of such weapons’ use from their development, and therefore have refused to work on weapons-related research. (Sadly, the right or privilege NOT to work on weapons-related research is not always afforded to scientists.)

Assignment: This week I’d like for you to just write about the movie. I want you to record what you think and feel as you watch the story progress. You might want to comment on the drive and ambition of the military officer, General Groves. You might want to comment on the gradual shift in the moods of the scientists from ebullient enthusiasm and excitement to gnawing guilt and remorse. You might want to comment on Dr. Oppenheimer’s “God complex”, the notion that he could control everything around him. There are many other themes you could choose to comment on as well (I don’t really need to hear your comments on the love story unless you just can’t resist talking about it).

Alternative assignment: If you attend the Festa Lecture on Monday, Nov 3 (see entry below), then you can instead write a blog entry summarizing the main points of Dr. Roble’s talk, particularly as they relate to this course.

Please post your blog by Tuesday, 4 Nov.