a scientific critique of the film

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2005)

The movie "Contact" deals with many different aspects of what science is. Our three main characters, Eleanor (Ellie) Arroway, Palmer Joss, and David Drumlin, each have very unique opinions of science. Although each depicts a human character, each represents a different way of looking at science.
Ellie Arroway's opinion of science is that the pursuit of science is the search for Truth. She is constantly searching for a higher meaning in life. She herself stated at one point in the movie, "For as long as I can remember, I've been searching for some reason why we're here" In her opinion, science is a means for acquiring knowledge and meaning. She uses science as a tool to discover more about our universe, because perhaps if we knew about other intelligent life forms out there, we might gain a little more knowledge about ourselves. She believes that there is no mystery in science, simply gaps in our knowledge, gaps which can be filled by understanding how we came to be.
Palmer Joss is a drop-out theology student-turned-White House adviser, a very interesting and all-too-convenient character, always appearing at the right moments. However, he is key in this film because of his beliefs on what science is. Having come from a theological background, we would naturally believe he opposes science, and in the beginning of the movie, it certainly seems so. However, as the plot develops, so does Joss's character, and we realize how truly important his contribution to the movie really is. In the beginning of the movie, Joss says that science hasn't been able to give people the one thing they are most hungry for- meaning. He studies the harmful impact of technology on third-world people. However, he quickly combines his spiritual values with scientific facts and becomes the ultimate counselor to the White House. He brings about a sort of compromise between science and belief. He says at one point that he is not against technology, but rather against people who worship it at the expense of human truth. In short, his belief is that science is the search for truth, and if God is truth, as he believed, then God is technically science.
Drumlin was incredibly distinct in his beliefs from Arroway and especially from Joss. He believed that science should be practical and profitable. Science should be practical in the sense that the science that people should practice should only be the kind of science that will advance us as a race and aid in our progress towards helping humanity. This is really what he means by profitable, too; certain sciences should not be practice if they mean pouring money into it and getting little in return. This is really why he opposed SETI. SETI was a project that demanded large sums of money, and he believed we would not get anything from it in return, not in the form of money or progress.
Even though each of these vital characters has a distinctive opinion of what science is, they all use the same term for this tool, this system of knowledge, and therefore their opinions, however contrasting they may be, are very similar to each other's. They all have a true passion for knowledge that fuels both science and religion alike.