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The genes won't care that the scientists playing with them were unethical. The only reason your attitude seems appealing is because nobody wants to believe even
by hatracksat 7y ago
The genes won't care that the scientists playing with them were unethical. The only reason your attitude seems appealing is because nobody wants to believe eventually this strategy will give the Chinese a superior understanding of gene editing.
- vannevar 7y agoWhat good will a superior understanding of gene editing be if we cease being a civilized society where scientific research can be nurtured in the first place? Ethics are not optional to science, they are integral to the social foundation upon which science rests.
- Fishysoup 7y agoI get the feeling OP is saying this sarcastically, as a way to criticize China.
- shrimp_emoji 7y agoEthics (e.g., scruples against fabricating research for personal gain) are actually what keeps Western science a cut above Eastern science. Obviously, though, ethics aren't a binary concept; you can value eugenics at the expense of suffering and be committed to the quality of your research. And good science knows no politics. People do, though, and they're the scientists.
- hatracksat 7y agoReproducibility and a lack of corruption are what elevates western science. Ethics are a handicap with good intentions, that's fine but it needs to be acknowledged because a proton doesn't care that it's in a bomb and a cell doesn't care about medical board reviews. China is working to reduce corruption enough to compete in terms of learning outcomes and eventually they'll likely succeed because they've demonstrated a willingness to escalate tactics until the desired outcome is achieved. Whether it's two decades from now or four, eventually the difference will be that they have a backlog of 'evil' experimental data plus the West's (because western academics favor easy sharing over most things). The social implications we normally talk about creating backlash aren't a reliable safeguard here because the mainland Chinese are, at large, content with their country and the progress it's making. The Chinese mainstream isn't Hong Kong or Taiwan, it's the mainlanders who have very different values than many westerners and who aren't likely to care if the result is better medicines or being the first to have access to novel gene edited medicines.
- amelius 7y agoYes, standing on the shoulders of giants is ok ... but behave while doing so.
- manicdee 7y agoWould you agree that China sees eye to eye with the West regarding other ethical concerns such as copyright, patents, organ transplants, or genocide?
- EsssM7QVMehFPAs 7y agoThe cost of ethical science is well known, and still proper democratic countries deny themselves the ignorance of human rights that is prevalent in China. Your comments read like quoted from Nazi Germany medical research in the 1940s. Welcome to the present.
- hatracksat 7y agoThanks, maybe eventually you'll join us in the present instead of dredging up examples that are almost 100 years old.