Comment by concordDance

2 years ago

> However I also think Science does need oversight and agreement from society on what is acceptable or not, as history has often shown left uncontrolled bad things can happen.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this. Are you talking about avoiding doing or publishing research that could have undesirable social effects? E.g. in the hypothetical world where it had been discovered in 1980 that there was a gene that made African Americans less bright than white ones this research should not be published?

Or is it that you are worried about biased scientists faking results to harm disadvantaged minorities?

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concordDance

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maxbaines  2 years ago

Do you not think Science needs oversight and agreement from society on what is acceptable or not?

Don't get me wrong this agreement from society is not always balanced, correct and often Science has to disagree and argue the point, but this oversight must still exist, surely?

  • concordDance  2 years ago

    I don't understand what you mean by "Science".

    There's a formal methodology, a social practice, a set of results, a perceived canon...

    Is it the problem of lawbreaking experiment side effects you're interested in? E.g. infecting a bunch of people with syphilis to see disease progression?