Scientific Freedom Quotes
In many nations, including the United States on occasion, governments have made laws as to what is valid science and what is not. Tennessee and other Bible-Belt States have and still do on occasion. The latest being Evolution, which even in the beginning of the 21st century, Kansas determined that it was not proven science, when it is as proven as any science has ever gotten.
See Hans Bethe {628530} for a practical implication of this principle.
Freedman was the producer and narrator of a TV series on sophisticated topics of science. There are a number of jurisdictions in the world where it is not a crime to clone a human being. Once someone implants a clone into a human female, there is little society can do little to “prevent” the clone from being born. Many religious fundamentalists who oppose human cloning will fight to protect the life of the clone baby in utero. For all we know, clones have already been born and are attending school with other children as no one could easily tell that a child (or an adult) is a clone.
The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer was the great physicist who directed the successful development of the atomic bomb so as to build the weapon before Hitler did in World War II. However, as the technology evolved, he had doubts as to the wisdom of creating even more powerful hydrogen weapons. His viewpoint was hurting the administration’s policy of rapid unlimited nuclear weapons development, and he was the victim of a character assassination whereby his security clearance was withdrawn. The “father” of the atomic bomb was the first American casualty of atomic weapons development.
Islamic modernists like Serageldin are many among the educated Muslims but their views are often drowned out by the violence and extremist statements of the fundamentalists. Ironically, the necessary intellectual freedom existed in the Islamic world one thousand years ago and Islamic science and other learning was as advanced as any and superior to most including the Christians.
Bush and some religious fundamentalists believe that even a fertilized human egg cell created for in vitro fertilization and not needed, is an incipient life. As such they oppose any use of these cells for anything but procreation of human life, and many oppose the concept of in vitro fertilization completely as it involves the killing and trivialization of life. Most Americans disagree and want to use the excess of fertilized eggs for research and help prolong and sustain life.
She was referring to scientists who might have personal moral judgments regarding a scientific issue like embryos, stem cells, and abortion or animal experiments that are different from that of the government at the time, might have their job threatened if they refused to personally perform a procedure that was offensive to them.
