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Show Who Applies Siorals Tocience? ; By L. H. Wullstein, Asst. Prof. ances. likP . . " ances, like me, possess very testy egos seemingly in infinite orbit around never never land. Occasionally Occasion-ally these egos oscillate with satellite satel-lite egos allowing mutual insight into what makes the other Sammy tick. Now some of these inner worlds I have seen are energized only by the competitive element in science; the goal being to become or apparently become better than ones contemporaries. This is sometimes some-times manifested in a trail of publications pub-lications bursting forth with the regularity of the seasons. We aU know, of course, places where the most worthless reports find their way to the scientific newsstand. Other members of our breed are unabashedly seekers of fame who cannot resist the magnetism of prizes particularly the big ones. It seems competition and prize winning works for scientists as well as for jockeys. On the other hand disdainful types view these carrots as too pavlovian preferring a contained con-tained approach. They really couldn't care less about winning prizes. Still others really couldn't care less, period! Melting Pot Our truly meaningful discoveries are brought off by all sorts of subspecies sub-species introverts, extroverts, priests, Republicans, Democrats, Birchers, Communists, Facists, wo men, "wierdos" and even "nice guys." In such a melting pot isn't it simply too ivory tower to expect an oughtness framework to exert a meaningful punch? I think so. It's not that I am opposed to framework frame-work it's only that I do not want to bs kidded that they will wed a unique un-ique morality to science or vice-versa. vice-versa. Pure Science Actually most agree that pure science should be intellectually free and moreover we should hope for and work towards an idealized institution. So I would submit that what needs worrying is something else, namely the accommodation of By L. H. Wullstein, Asst Prof. Botany Department Morality as I have come to observe ob-serve it in its rather complex and diverse interpretations does not strike me as occupying any special I position within science. More exactly ex-actly morality seemingly exerts no singular or unique influence upon the practicioners of science. This is best exemplified in the purer forms of science, i.e., those which are void in applied purpose. Science Sci-ence in this purer state is, of course, partly an abstraction which ideally pursues the unkown with childlike curiosity free of social stigma. In this sense I mean to convey no more and no less than one viewpoint of oughtness. That is to say science ought to be unfettered, un-fettered, it ought to be unprejudiced, unpreju-diced, it ought to be seeking only discovery and intellectual enlightenment. enlight-enment. To achieve these ideals I sometimes feel science ought to be practiced by something other than real people! Testy Egos Most of my scientific acquaint- new discoveries as they are brought down by the scientific fraternity. In other words what in hell is going to be done about that latest development develop-ment out of the "National Pandemonium Pande-monium Laboratories for Basic Research." Re-search." Rest assured something is almost always done. And, it is this something that people are really real-ly at odds about. Should we or shouldn't we apply that newly discovered dis-covered organic compound to our grasshoppers? If we do we call it a pesticide and it becomes an understood un-derstood something. If we don't it will likely remain an obscure organic or-ganic compound for scientific interpretation in-terpretation only. Should we or shouldn't we allow microorganis-mal microorganis-mal products to be used for alleviating allevi-ating disease or for killing people or for getting high or for getting obnoxiously drunk? Clearly it is the application of our basic discoveries dis-coveries which imply the moral issues. It is not the investigators and obviously it is not the discoveries discov-eries themselves! So then who does the applying? Take time for a long look. This will clear up after awhile. |