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From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: net.sci,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: What's All This, Then (Workshop on Exploding Particle Accelerators)
Message-ID: <973@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 15-Feb-86 22:27:31 EST
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Posted: Sat Feb 15 22:27:31 1986
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Re: potentially dangerous experiments

The question remains, who decides whether an experiment should
be performed?  My answer would be, the one who will conduct the
experiment.  (If several people are involved, then the principal
investigator.)  None of the alternatives, including this one,
are fully satisfactory, but there is at least a chance that the
researcher is in a position to weigh the actual risks against
the probable benefits.  I have yet to see a case where "40
million Frenchmen" or their appointed political representatives
have been right about any matter of science or technology (or
ethics or morality, either).