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Top Physicist Advocates Scientific Self-Censorship
spamania writes "The San Francisco Chronicle is running this article about a new book by Britain's astronomer royal, Sir Martin Rees, that advocates restricting scientific research in certain fields in the interest of public safety. In "Our Final Hour", Rees lends a sober, respectable voice to the oft-irrational ranting about nanotech, biotech, and other fields."
Mostly the article talks about how certain scientific research could lead to catastrophic accidents that would be detrimental to our existance. So it's censorship in the idea that it wants to "remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable" in the sense that is it objectionable to the environment, world, universe, etc.
It's not saying that we shouldn't know about the research, but that it shouldn't happen at all.
If research is truly dangerous then classify it. But not to research it only leaves you behind when other nations research it.
Hey, if you read the article then you would have understood Sir Martin Rees's reasons for recommending self-censorship. Here's a sample paragraph:
"Some experiments could conceivably threaten the entire Earth," he writes. "How close to zero should the claimed risk be before such experiments are sanctioned?"
He isn't talking about research that has potentially dangerous applications if it falls into the "wrong" hands, he's talking about potentially dangerous experiments. The kind of experiments where something going wrong could, say, create a minature black hole and thus destroy the planet.
When you're talking about an experiment going that wrong then you don't really give a damn who's performing it, "them" or "us".
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Also, that the reason why the Germans didn't have a nuclear bomb is because the allied forces destroyed (after a first failed mission) the heavy water factory in Switzerland (I think it was in Switzerland, not 100% sure) that was fundamental to the bomb design.
The facility you refer to was in Norway; Switzerland was neutral in WWII.
Do you mean Heisenberg....a theoretician, not a hands-on experimentalist?
Depleted uranium is just that, depleted. Depleted means no more, has ceased to be, the uranium is NO MORE. Agent orange was not meant as a chemical weapon to be used against humans. It is a pesticide that was meant to defoliate the thick forrests that the VC were hiding in. Unfortunatly people were drenched in it. One of the side effects of useful pesticide resulted.
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the US that sold Saddam most of his chemical stockpile
The claim by the grandparent post was that the US that sold Saddam most of his chemical stockpile. Your references don't support that claim.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
actualy the term depleted in this case means that the fissile U235 and Pu239 has been extracted, leaving only the non-fissile U233. In lay terms you can't use it for nuclear fuel, that's all. Any toxicity inherent in uranium is still present. We use it in anti-tank cannons because the stuff is much better at punching through thin armor than the much lighter lead w/ tungston core AP rounds do.
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