ISSUE31 【CSMY 作文互改小组】 第五次作业

stevenhuUID: 172722

Issue31
"Money spent on research is almost always a good investment, even when the results of that research are controversial."

1. 不可否认，研究活动给人类带来了巨大的幸福。
2. 由于研究本身的性质，人们并不能轻易判断研究的结果会使怎样的，所以，对一些有争议的项目，我们仍应该支持
3. 但是，我们不应当支持会给人类社会带来严重恶劣后果的研究活动，与其这样还不如把钱投入到其他方面。

DATE 2007-01-17 WORD 580  TIME 1:10

To the speaker's optimistic assertion, I hold somehow a more neural attitude. Too often, research has provided people innumerable happiness, but when it comes to projects that are too much controversial, I'd prefer to recommend spending the money on some other area, say save the poverty or develop education.

During the human’s civilization, research activities, regardless of scientific, technological or social ones, significantly improved people's working and living condition. By knowing the basic idea that water always flows to the lower places, we human developed water driving mills, which promoted the development of agriculture; by discovering hot water vapor reserves energy, we invented steam boiling machines, which finally led to the world's industrial revolution. These inventions greatly increased our society's producing efficiency, which brought us much more products than ever. Besides, the research in art and social areas reveals what is people's perception of beauty and how to construct a more free and democratic government, therefore enabling people to enjoy a  happier and  more peaceful life. Sufficient historical facts have led us to convince that researching is always a good thing, thus invest in exploring unknown things always pays off.

However, when it comes to research that may lead to disapproval, I would firstly consider to what degree does these exploring projects are claimed controversial. After all, the characteristic of research itself decides that it is hard to evaluate a research project before it is really conducted. Too much times, people find only disappointments in the previously believed promising projects, and also very often, people receive great harvest from the little hope trials. To the first point, American physical scientists’ sadness from the once attracting project, which tried to capture dark matters form the universe through a specially man made satellite, would be a fit ever example. To the latter one, the accidentally discovered medicine 'vigor' are still popular all over the world. Even for researchers themselves, it is usually hard to predict what can be acquired through the various trials and errors, so how can a society easily concludes that one project is controversial or not. Therefore, base on man's fundamental aspiration of exploring the unknown world, I would prefer to still invest money on projects that are said to be controversial.

Though I support to spend money on the commonly believed controversial research, when it is too much controversial, especially when it would cause moral or ethnic conflicts, I would recommend that money should be spend on other needed areas. Albeit the result of research activities are usually hard to predict, some of them can easily been identified to be evil or can cause severe consequences. Say the trials to make biochemical weapons or the research of cloning people ourselves. Under these circumstances, I would surely not support investing any money, for they are too controversial or actually evil. After all, in many undeveloped countries, huge amount of people are still waiting for aid, lots of children are expecting to receive education. Even in modern cities, there are valuable historical or artistical sites which need to be protected. Money spent on these areas would surly benefit us more.

To sum up, despite the fact that many research works are to some degree controversial, if it can not definitely led to severe technical, social or economic disasters, I insist that we should invest these projects.