It's a general law in fiction, going back to Frankenstein, that any development that challenges the status quo will prove harmful. Mary Shelley didn't call it "

It's a general law in fiction, going back to Frankenstein, that any development that challenges the status quo will prove harmful. Mary Shelley didn't call it "The Modern Prometheus" for nothing - the implication is that to challenge our limitations offends the gods, or God, or Nature. It's a great way to make people feel OK about mortality or failure. And a guaranteed trope - when a TV episode or movie starts with a new development in science with great promise you know 100% by the closing credits that the scientist will have been punished and the status quo ante restored. I would guess that when the first crazy experimentalist tried putting seeds in the ground instead of foraging for fruit, there was a cave painting about how the Spirits would punish the whole tribe for its arrogance.