本帖最后由 powerjohn 于 2010-3-17 19:44 编辑
44. Goverment should not fund any scientific research whose consequences, either medical or ethical, are unclear.
Nowadays, as the development of science, especially the rapid expansion in the field of biology and pharmaceutics there is an increasing debate over the issue that whether those bio-chemical researches with vague outcome should be sponsored by government. Supporters think these experiments could improve the welfare of human beings by developing better treatment to patients, increasing the production of food and bringing other enormous advantages. While, the opponents hold the view that these researches may harm the world due to their unpredicted results. As my concern, I will show the evidence favoring the former one but also taking the latter one's arguments into my consideration.
These researches, whatever whether their results can be forecasted, have to be funded by government, because the challenges in real world urge us to do so and we have no choice but to fight against. No one can deny that the nature is still out of our control. In most of time, we have to concede when we are placed before the furious nature. Although great stride has been made after the industry revolution since 1740, we still have nothing to do but wait to final judgement when we confronted with AIDS and many other serious disease. Besides, the starvation around the world calls experiments on agriculture to provide high-yield plants, in spite of bearing the unclear related genetic risk. Thus, to solve these problems, humans have to explore in the field we are unfamiliar with.
In addition, even the researches with clear predicted outcome are always full of unexpected result. To take GB as an example, this medicine was first invented aiming at curing heart attack. However, it was found later, in the practical application, a very robust medicine for curing sex inability. Other similar cases could be found in other fields. Thus, fund these researches is undoubtedly benefit to our society. My last reason why the government should fund these researches lies in that the competition among different countries forces them to carry on these studies. Lots of studies are direct or indirect related to military applications. To take mini camera as an example, mini camera was first invented for spies to photo some important and secret document of enemies, although this device was used by some wicked people to intrude other people's privacy.
Admittedly, some research should be under the surveillance of public or even prohibited at all. For example, the experiment on cloning human being is not supported by almost all major countries. Because it severely violets our ethical standards. And the baby cloned is also a victim of such activity, for its expected life is very short, usually a few years, according to the similar experiments on animals.
To sum up, exploring with the unknown field is generally beneficial to humans facing the challenges from various aspects, because we can not tell what will happen in the real experiments. Of course, some researches should be under surveillance due to their significant uncertainty. However, as a famous scientist said (and I paraphrase), to progress is to err. Only when taking the risk bravely can we make our way to a brighter future. | 
发表于 2010-3-17 19:29:00
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