Do you think science has gone too far?.....?

Question

Scientists are still experimenting on cloning, but there was a famous sheep called Dolly in which scientists successful managed to clone. The down falls was that before the clone was born around 286 or so lambs died or were born mutated. What is your opinion, has science truly gone too far? or it just hasn't got further enough?

Many say the increasing thirst for knowledge will be the cause of our own death and suffering.

Answer 1

As a scientist myself, I have asked the same question. While the accumulation of knowledge is important for the treatment of disease, improvement in the quality of life, and general well being, there should be some limits placed on how far we should go. Unfortunately, government policy tends to bow to corporate sponsorship, and corporations crave higher profits, hence they do not limit how far research is taken. It is possible that someday, if no limitations are placed on us, science may be our undoing, through a genetically altered disease, cloning, or weapons of incredible power. Unfortunately, science has played a central role in each. However, science also yields incredible advances, such as microwave ovens, light bulbs, jet aircraft, rockets. During the creation of these, no limitations were placed on the creators. The ethical dilemma rages in each scientist to this day. As for myself, I have made my choices, and have decided to pursue pharmaceutical research intended for mankind's benefit, rather than some of the more potentially destructive types of research.

Answer 2

No, I don't believe it has gone too far. Everyone gets so scared when they hear the word "clone"... they think that governments will clone an army or something ridiculous. It would be a very important technology so that you could clone a person's own organ or skin so that the person who needed something new could have a donor that was 100% compatible, instead of searching for a donor and hoping that the patient won't reject the organ. Also, people think we'd be growing whole people and then taking out their organs. This too is ridiculous... you'd only make some stem cells grow with that person's DNA into whatever you wanted. This is why cloning is important technology.

For animals too, you can clone or genetically engineer disease resistant animals or whatever, but yes, I do think that that has the potential to cause problems as it might cause diseases to mutate in new and unforeseen ways.

And yes, many of the attempts at cloning that sheep failed, but what do we care about some mutant sheep when we support the meat industry which slaughters lambs and other animals so we can eat them? Is one more wrong than the other?

Answer 3

This is the price we pay for progress. Be grateful we are experimenting on animals and not humans, such as was done in the past (think Hitler). If you want antibiotics that fight the ever evolving bacterial infections, or countless other pharmaceuticals, you have to make a sacrifice somewhere. In my opinion, it is better off the animals. In order to get your experiment approved, an ethics board has to approve it. The animals that die in science do so in peace.

Now, increasing the thirst for knowledge will NOT be the cause of our own death and suffering. It is ignorance that will be the cause of that. We are much more likely to die because of the pollution we are creating which affects climate change, or from killing ourselves in wars for power. By looking at the products of science in the last 40 years, it is clear that it is quite the opposite of death and suffering. Consider the medical advances affecting life expectancy.

Of course, there need to be tight regulations on genetic engineering. I wholeheartedly agree with you there. There is much too little research on the long-term effects of introducing new genes to the pool.

Answer 4

Has it gone too far?? You don't like vaccines and medicine??? Are sheep more important???

This is the kind of thinking that gets real thinkers killed as heretics.....

Can we ever really go too far??? There are certainly ethics involved in science...just like in anything else. Just because scientists can do something doesn't mean that they do. It's called being a decent human.

286 lambs....lol guess you don't like lamb chops

Answer 5

Science has not gone far enough..
You are probably alive today because of science...
Look beyond your own sheltered life..
Look at the mortality rates of the worlds 3rd world countries.
The more primative the country, the higher the mortality rates.
Move to Somalia or Chad...
You need a good dose of reality...

Answer 6

Science is necessary for our culture to make advances in technology. What is the alternative to thirst for knowledge? Total ignorance? Knowledge in any capacity is an improvement over blind ignorance.

Answer 7

think of knowledge as a light in dark space. as we acquire more knowledge the light becomes stronger and more of space can be seen.
think of the darkness around the light of knowledge as superstition in it's many forms. some people and organizations thrive in the darkness and die in the light of knowledge. these people and organizations would like the light to stop growing. that science would not go any further.

Answer 8

That's a dumb question.


I say we cease all scientific experimentation and declare all science as complete. Everything should stay in its current state. Nevermind looking for answers to questions like how to cure cancer, how to prevent cancer, how to restore someone's arm that was lost in a farming accident, etc. Sheep come first!

Answer 9

Biological science has definitely gone way OTT it is playing god, and i think your last sentence says it all payback time. but science has to go on in say medicine , electrons, nuclear fission all the things we need to help our illness controlled and treated but unfortunately at the expense of animals, that gives a dilemma

Answer 10

Would you rather stop learning and stay here, knowing that forever from this moment on, never ever change life?

This is the next thing to be discovered, if you stop this, then you are stopping the progression of the human race. Do you want your great-great-great-grandchildren to be excatly like you? come on....