[i习作temp] Issue69,有拍必回 [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2010-4-7 00:15:31 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

ISSUE69"Government should place few, if any, restrictions on scientific research and development"

提纲：
1.政府有时需要对科学研究进行限制（原因：国家安全，伦理道德）
2.科学需要自由，过多的限制不利于科学的发展（反例：苏联的“文化大革命”）
3.政府更重要的责任在于支持科学研究

Nowadays results of scientific research have been applied to all aspects human life. Along with the quickening pace of industrialization and informationization of society, science becomes a significant contributor to national development. Government, as the leader of a nation, is without question responsible for supporting scientific research. Taking the national security and some ethic issues into account, the government sometimes has to impose some restraints on research. However, as we know, academic freedom is at the heart of the development of science and technology which all related government policies are designed to foster.

National security is a major factor for government to place restrictions on scientific research. To prevent the results of research from being misused, government cannot help but impose some restrictions on research, such as how unclassified research is conducted, how information is exchanged, and who is allowed to participate in the process. For example, in order to prevent the export of related information export from the U.S., United States government has forbidden most universities from participating in satellite-based research at one time

Moreover, administration may ban some kinds of research occasionally due to their ethic controversy. A typical case of such research is the study of embryonic stem cells which banned by Bush administration at one time. Albeit its resultant treatments could have significant medical potentialities, this research drew criticism from a large number of opponents. A major reason is that such research requires the destruction of human embryo, which is already a human life in some sense. Besides, many opponents believe this technology can be potential to devalue human life as a slippery slope to reproductive cloning.

However, Freedom in scientific research, which means investigators have unrestricted liberty to conduct research and public their results, is fundamental for scholars to discovery of truth. The liberty to present challenge to traditional wisdom is an assurance to discard the dross and select the essence of the past. An open mind to unconventional even radical opinions is the very foundation of science innovation and development. Too much restraint especially political restraint will hinder the development of science. One extreme example of ‘politicizing science’ in history may be the suppression of research in the Soviet. Beginning during the Stalin era and continuing after his regime, the Soviet government exerted strict political controls over scientific research. During that time, a number of research fields were labeled as “bourgeois pseudosciences” and banned. Unwarranted and gross government interference cause the Soviet science suffered serious setbacks.

In my opinion, government should play the role of a supporter rather than a restrictor in scientific research, especially for some basic research. As we know, the value of basic research is often difficult or impossible to judge, and even no commercial benefit can be derived. Therefore such knowledge is often unable to be pursued at private funding of profit-oriented corporations, which is another major source of research funding besides government. Corporations are always declined to investigate a field that shows little prospect of being profitable in the near future. However, fundamental research subjects are generally the basics of progress and development in other fields. So, leading sponsor of basic research should be the government.

In sum, without restrictions, the national security is at risk; without academic freedom, no research can be done. Government must make trade-offs between them.