do no harm

Science and Values

The idea of value free science is refuted thoroughly in closing the Douglas book, Science, Policy and the Value Free Ideal, and proposed to be replaced with a moral imperative on science that guides their actions to be ethical. This sense of idealism for science and the people who perform it sound a little utopian, and does not consider enough the consumers of science who take the information and utilize it. If the idea of value free science or its moral successors are to be implemented, the policy makers and champions of the science must be equally vested in the ethical application of the science. The technologists that will create products and processes using the science and guide its transition out of the laboratory and into the factories, farms and battlefields of the world must also embrace these principles.

In many cases today, such as the example of breast cancer research, where studies are showing that many mammograms and biopsies are done unnecessarily, science struggles to prevent harm from coming to the most people. But implementation of such knowledge by the medical community, insurance industry, and even public oversight is contentious and conflicted. The lack of trust and epistemic views between patient and provider, beneficiary and insurer, all take the relatively neutral science and cast allusions and intention onto the relatively straight forward statistics of the results of testing.

Considering the moral and ethical implications of science is not a burden on science, as suggested by Bridgeman in the reading, but a necessary part of the review process. If the science does not create enough value to overcome simple questioning, does it represent a high enough return on investment to benefit society? And this should not stop at the basic science, application science, technology and markets must also be continually evaluating their positions to ensure that the nature of technology being spread into the world is not doing more harm than good. The precept of medicine to “first, do no harm” is a good analogy for the moral imperative scientists and engineers and even marketers should embrace in their works.