ISSUE69 政府不应限制科学研究和发展【求拍，有拍必回】

爱上千年的猫UID: 2476232

TOPIC: ISSUE69 - "Government should place few, if any, restrictions on scientific research and development"
WORDS: 516
TIME: 00:40:00
DATE: 2010-3-22 20:10:05

Thanks to the public and private funds for scientific research, the developments of science and technology have never stopped. And our lives are significantly influenced by these developments. However, it is not to say that any restrictions on scientific research and development are unnecessary. According to the purposes and possible outcomes of scientific researches, government should place restrictions at different extents.

For those scientific researches that have clear purposes and positive influences on all human beings, government should lessen the restrictions and provide more support. Consider the study of defeating AIDS. Since AIDS is such a terrible disease that destroys the immune system of our body, anyone who infects it will eventually die of exhaustion of organs. And AIDS is also a contagion that can be spread through blood and sex. Millions of people suffer from and die of AIDS every year. If too many meaningless restrictions are placed on the researches studying AIDS, it is likely that treatment of AIDS could only be delayed or even remain undiscovered. Therefore, for scientific researches that aim at solving certain problems should not be regulated too much by the government.

For those researches that have potential threats to all human beings, government should adopt strict restrictions on them. The research on nuclear power aptly illustrates this point. Because nuclear power is so huge that would cause serious damage if used improperly. Whenever it is used to produce heavy weapons, all human beings and the earth would be in danger. Since the use of nuclear weapon first appeared in the WW II, we witnessed the terrible sequelae it brings to human beings and the environment. Having realized the potential threat of nuclear power, governments all over the world should establish strict regulation on the relevant researches. To limit these researches is not to slow down the pace of scientific development but rather to guarantee a safe living environment for all human beings.

However, the cases whose outcomes and potential influences are clear, like mentioned above, are quite rare. Under most cases, the outcomes of scientific researches cannot be accurately predicted when they start. Therefore, government should not only support the scientific research, but also should place certain restrictions and supervision on them. If the results of those researches are turning out to be positive and beneficial, government should lessen the restrictions on them and provide further resource and funds. Once the outcomes seem to be potentially risky or deleterious, stricter regulation should be put on them and intensive supervision is needed. Only in this way, we are closer to benefit from the scientific research and development rather than hurt by them.

In sum, when deciding whether restrictions should be placed on scientific research and development and to what extent the restrictions should be, government should carefully analyze the purpose and result of the scientific research and development. If the purpose and result are clear at the beginning, government can easily decide. The difficulty lies on the common cases when the result is unclear or controversial. Under such cases, more restrictions with supervision may be a safer option for government.

1. main idea: not any but those possibly will benefit human beings
2. +: those have clear beneficial prospect
3. --: those have potential threats
4. =: those have controversial outcomes
5. sum