Relay Column: When Scientists Wear Lab Coats – Reflections on "DEADMAN WONDERLAND" & "Box of Spirits and Goblins" (Satoshi Nishigai)
Copied to Clipboard
PROFILE
Satoshi Nishigai
Part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Sociology, Mejiro University and the Faculty of Law, Chuo Gakuin University. Current fields of specialization include bioethics and modern literature and cultural studies. Previously specialized in behavioral ecology. Co-author of "東日本大震災後文学論" (Nan'un-do, 2017) among others. His paper "記憶の選択的消去の倫理的問題を記憶再生技術とともに考える―湯浅政明監督『カイバ』の解釈から脳神経倫理へ―" ("Bunmei Kenkyu" No. 36, 2018) is among his works. researchmap
1. Mother Does Not Wear a Lab Coat
In "DEADMAN WONDERLAND(13)" by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou, the phrase "54 The shut-up reason" appears.
...Igarashi / You delivered flowers to the deceased subject every year, right? / (omission) Don't you realize? / --- That's not "research"; it's something a "human" would do.
An inhumane experiment involving the development of nanomachines, where the subjects are nearly dead. One of the responsible researchers, female scientist Igarashi, gave birth to a child solely to increase the number of subjects for her experiments.
However, despite being "only interested in research," Igarashi finds her child adorable. Yet, she suffers when the other responsible researcher, the child's father, cruelly says, "Let's make cute ribbons in the intestines!" This moment is followed by her colleague's comment about her research actions.
She offers flowers to honor the subjects she sacrificed. This act of mourning is pointed out by her colleague as being something a "human" does, not a "researcher." It is difficult to judge whether mourning is good, so I’ll set that aside for now. However, through her colleague’s comments, Igarashi is reminded not only of her cruelty but also of her "humanness," awakening her virtues as a mother.
Toward the end of the story—avoiding spoilers—she continues as a "researcher" driven by the paramount goal of protecting her child from inhumane experiments, while still occasionally sacrificing others. Nevertheless, her desire to protect her child as a mother transcends being a mere wish and becomes an intention of goodness and justice, making it virtuous.
The "human" who mourns the victims is not a "researcher." The essence of this "human" is quite elusive. However, by continuing to read the work with this value in mind, I realized that Igarashi evolved from a "researcher" who merely gave birth to a child for research purposes to a virtuous mother.
This aligns with the switching between wearing and not wearing the lab coat. While engaged in research, Igarashi wears a lab coat. However, when she tries to act as a mother, she wears casual clothes. The contrast through the lab coat is that Igarashi's roles as a mother and as a "researcher" have become distinct. Consequently, from this point onwards, Igarashi struggles significantly as she must act as a mother while still in her lab coat.
2. As Long as Scientists Wear Lab Coats, They Should Not Speak of Dreams
After finishing all volumes of 'DEADMAN WONDERLAND', I vividly recall that I immediately reread Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "Box of Spirits and Goblins" (Kodansha Bunko Edition, 1999, first published in 1995). This was inspired by the following words.
"You are a scientist. I can appreciate Koshiro Mimasaka as a scientist, but not as a preacher. Science is technology, and theory; it is not the essence. When a scientist speaks of happiness, they should not be wearing the face of a scientist. Words like 'The blissful millennium kingdom' are not something you should say."
The scientist Mimasaka is conducting research on replacing all parts of the body except for the brain to achieve eternal life and aims for a “blissful thousand-year kingdom,” as he states to the onmyoji Chuzenji Temple. Chuzenji Temple's response is encapsulated in the words above.
Chuzenji Temple strongly argues that the roles of “scientists” and “missionaries” should be separated. His assertion is straightforward and easy to understand. Mimasaka can be recognized as a scientist who conducts research and produces scientific achievements. However, as a communicator of the values of science, Mimasaka cannot be evaluated positively. This means that values like happiness must be contemplated and conveyed from a perspective separate from that of a scientist.
