I don't get all the comments about engineers and HP calculators. I've worked at 3 companies, one of them the largest in the business (just about the largest in any business), and I didn't notice a particular bias one way or another. Most people when I was in school a short time ago used TI calculators. I continue to use my trusty TI-89 now that I'm at work. The faculty didn't "push" any brand of calculator over another. They just said "buy one and learn how to use it." Why would a professor at a "credible" university spend any amount of time harping on a brand of calculator?
What these bioethics departments should be doing is trying to convince people that stem cell research is one of our best chances at curing many diseases.
What these bioethics departments should be doing is considering whether things like stem cell research is in fact ethical. Maybe stem cell research is one of our best chances at curing many diseases. But that is a bit of scientific data and not a conclusion about the moral nature of stem cell research. It is fallacious to mistake the two.
Yes, we should be doing stem cell research! (Although, I doubt this will be an unpopular opinion here. Slashdot does attract many scientists, after all.)
Science is not a system of ethics unto itself. Science provides us with information and ideas about the physical world. This information may inform our decisions about what is ethical, but it does not by itself indicate what is ethical. As such, it is incorrect to assume that all scientists will agree with you about stem cell research. Many people who would call themselves scientists have reasons for believing that stem cell research is immoral in spite of the alledged benefits. (i.e. To them, the positive moral aspects of stem cell research do not outweigh the other conflicting negative aspects).
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I don't get all the comments about engineers and HP calculators. I've worked at 3 companies, one of them the largest in the business (just about the largest in any business), and I didn't notice a particular bias one way or another. Most people when I was in school a short time ago used TI calculators. I continue to use my trusty TI-89 now that I'm at work. The faculty didn't "push" any brand of calculator over another. They just said "buy one and learn how to use it." Why would a professor at a "credible" university spend any amount of time harping on a brand of calculator?
What these bioethics departments should be doing is trying to convince people that stem cell research is one of our best chances at curing many diseases. What these bioethics departments should be doing is considering whether things like stem cell research is in fact ethical. Maybe stem cell research is one of our best chances at curing many diseases. But that is a bit of scientific data and not a conclusion about the moral nature of stem cell research. It is fallacious to mistake the two. Yes, we should be doing stem cell research! (Although, I doubt this will be an unpopular opinion here. Slashdot does attract many scientists, after all.) Science is not a system of ethics unto itself. Science provides us with information and ideas about the physical world. This information may inform our decisions about what is ethical, but it does not by itself indicate what is ethical. As such, it is incorrect to assume that all scientists will agree with you about stem cell research. Many people who would call themselves scientists have reasons for believing that stem cell research is immoral in spite of the alledged benefits. (i.e. To them, the positive moral aspects of stem cell research do not outweigh the other conflicting negative aspects).