Should scientists assume their social responsibilities?

 

Whenever science makes a discovery, the devil grabs it while the angels are debating the best way to use it. (Alan Valentine)

1.Scientists are like the pioneers of human society, exploring the unknowing, unraveling the mysteries, and making breakthroughs. A 'scientist' is a person who engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge by using scientific method. Some inventions are not just ANY findings, but ground-breaking discoveries that change our way of live. A prominent example is the atomic bomb. First 'discovered' in 1938 by German scientists, it took only 7 years before unleashing its unprecedented super-destructive power to world, when US planes dropped two bombs on the cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki in August 1945. Some believe that scientists ought to shoulder the negative impacts of their discoveries. In my viewpoint it is unfair and ridiculous to ask scientists answer for the negative results of their discoveries.

First, it is unfair to blame scientists for the undesirable results of their findings if they themselves do not put the findings in large scale application. Just like a piece of brick can be used to build house or to murder someone, the effect of scientific discovery is not up to its finders but users, like politicians, businessmen, and investors in most cases. For instance, we should not blame the scientists in the Manhattan Project for the disastrous results of atomic explosion but the politicians in the White House who decided to use it in war. If all the responsibilities went to the scientists, not the actual utilizers, it would give those abusers excuse to continue their misbehaviors, while innocent scientists become their scapegoat.

Besides, were the scientists asked to be accountable for all the possible negative outcomes of their discoveries, it will undoubtedly hind the progress of science and even our society. The process of scientific research can be compared to exploration into a dark and gloomy cavern. The experiments and researches are just like leaders of the team with torches in hand, lighting up the darkness. And who knows what in the dark? It may be treasures, yet sometimes snakes or even monsters. Likewise, scientific discovery is sometimes controversial and unfavorable. If explorers are required to be responsible for every step they move on, undoubtedly, they would become overcautious and even scared to make progress.

Admittedly, some scientific findings have already shown unfavorable impacts when discovered by scientists. For example, soon after it was discovered, scientists have recognized the formidable power of nuclear fission. In such cases, however, scientists can remind people its negative consequences. Many responsible scientists in the Manhattan Project, including Robert Oppenheimer, the Father of Atomic Bomb, wrote report to warn politicians to use the atomic bomb cautiously in war. Thus, that scientist should not be blame for the harmful effects of their discoveries does not follow that they are entirely irrelevant to the application of such discovers. Conscious scientists are always there to assume their social responsibilities. While we should put reasonable requirements and expectations on scientists, scientists themselves do have the obligations to remind people about negative consequences of their discoveries.

 

Section 3. Memory Exercise

Ex.1. Read a group of sentences to make sure that all collocations are clear to you. Read/listen to scientific phrase and repeat it. (10 phrases one after another)

 

1. We hope that this will enable us to answer these questions before long.

A short time later, a new pulse of volcanic activity occurred above the hot spot.

Today, the trend is to integrate small digital computers into the outlying parts of power control systems, such as telemetering systems.

If broken lumps of rock were the essential characteristic of the lunar surface, the same would be true for radio signals, which emphatically it is not.

Traces of lead are almost ubiquitous in nature (or are universal in occurrence)

Some of the difficulties involved in (or encountered when, or met with in) applying transistors to line transmission can be seen from...

The public's desire to have new generating stations located well outside populous areas comes into conflict with the desire not to disfigure the countryside with overhead...

The first units are unlikely to become operational until early next year.

More and more high-efficiency plants are coming into service.

This film can be applied to photographs and printing of every description (or of all kinds).

 

2. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the rocks.

It is a common practice to carry out a numerical analysis before entering upon an experimental investigation.

Native gold and platinum are among the minerals extensively extracted from such deposits. Differential equations are divided into ordinary and partial equations according to the number of independent variables.

The free electrons are accelerated to velocities large enough to knock fixed electrons from (or out of) their parent atoms....

The hot combustion products escape (or pass, or are discharged, or are exhausted, or are rejected) into the atmosphere.

The welded component is automatically ejected from the machine onto the main line conveyor. Remove (or Unscrew, or Take out) the four screws the back of the meter and use them to secure the adaptor plate to the meter.

This permits the application of such coating to existing piping without its removal from service.

Kepler's three laws could be deduced from Newton's theory of gravitation.

Both steam engine and hand gear should be disengaged.

 

3. This casts some doubt upon the usefulness of that theory.

Such practice will put unnecessary strain on the instrument and cause excessive wear on the threads. Some of the components responsible for the allergic reaction to bee sting have been identified.

One of the objectionable features of the Bohr model of the atom was the assumption of quantized energy states for the electron.

As boiling continues, the liquid volume decreases until all the liquid has boiled away.

The motor will be shut down automatically.

An air-traffic controller needs a device that can swiftly and accurately pick out the unique identification signal assigned to each aircraft.

The vane must be completely withdrawn from between the nozzles.

There is a wide variety of enclosure sized both standard and custom built (or made to order).

These operations can be done (or performed, or carried out, or executed) under pressure.

 

4. The transistors are acting (or serving, or functioning, or operating) as switches

The more complex, highly evolved (or advanced, or developed) species are found in rocks overlying those containing simpler, less advanced species.

Satellite communications over the last quarter of a century have gained widespread acceptance in long-distance telephony.

In the field of organic chemistry the combustion reactions are of great utility.

The metal industry uses silicon carbide extensively.

As a survey paper, it covers the field broadly.

It is also possible to learn much about... by an experimental approach [or experimentation)].

The valley ranges in width from 30 to 60 km.

Making its initial appearance to the general public at the exhibition was the hydraulic system.

Decreasing the size of the devices reduces the distance between gates, resulting in a shorter propagation delay.

5.There is much still to be learned (or that we need to learn) about superconductivity in organic materials.

We have still a long way to go toward understanding how the planets came into being.

Scientists are still a long way from creating living molecules in the laboratory.

These hormones are vitally important in the regulation of many phases of metabolism.

The assembly resembles a squirrel cage, except that the disks are tilted with respect to each other at an angle of eight degrees.

Lacking a satisfactory theory of the phenomenon, the first questions to be answered are necessarily very simple ones.

Changes of climate that may have occurred throughout the past few tens of thousands of years... Structural bonding is rapidly taking its place along with bolting, rivetting, welding, and brazing as a method of...

This idea gained wide(spread) acceptance (or recognition).

These starters have become firmly established as the most advanced...

Ultimately what we can do here on the Earth will be limited by the same laws that govern the economy of astronomical energy sources.

 

6. We have to meet exacting (or stringent, or rigid) requirements.

These compounds react with water to give (or giving) simple hydrocarbons.

The properties of water in biological systems have engaged our attention primarily because of our interest in cell membranes.

The machine requires practically no maintenance apart from electrode...

Each apprentice looks after three automatics

We have not yet addressed the specific question of where and how magmas are generated.

The behaviour of the dashpot is conditioned by the viscosity of the oil used.

The usefulness of this gypsum depends upon the fact that it...

Common to both systems are the problems of corrosion and scale deposition.

This screen is acknowledged to be among (or one of) the most efficient devices available.

An isolated hydrogen atom can be treated (or considered, or regarded, or seen, or commonly thought) as a composite boson.