I really enjoyed your thoughtful reply. The danger, as you seem to put it, lies in either:
1. The misuse of science by demagogues or idiots; or
2. The runaway nature of this powerful engine, which defies control.
Against this one must set the observation that reality always wins; and that insofar as science arises from an external fundamental, it can never be suppressed; howsoever people try and whatever the consequences. If, as some environtmentalists wish, one could push a button and end mankind and all his works, could that end the dream of science? If Islam could erase even the memory of knowledge, could it return mankind to the 7th century and establish the House of Islam on unquenchable ignorance?
They would be as likely to hold back the waves of the sea as keep a universe from producing sentience yet again, either here or somewhere else. It is natural to
fear science; and God too, if you want to put it in those terms, as anyone must fear what can never be controlled nor fully understood. So we must go onward with science, and God too, if you will, in the face of mysteries, with hope and faith our only consolation.
"In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountains start,
In the prison of his days,
Teach the free man how to praise."
I agree that we will press on regardless, hoping and praying the whole way that we don't kill ourselves doing it. Perhaps we won't.