And scientific study is unethical... How?
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
5 points (100.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
35740 readers
1252 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
My brother, how many examples do you need? Without mentioning the 30s and 40s, look at the Tuskegee Experiment where men were given syphilis intentionally and withheld treatment to study it's spread in black populations. Or the San Francisco Operation Sea-Spray when dangerous bacterial were sprayed over the entire city to study it's effects on the population. Ethical frameworks exist to prevent people from harming others in the pursuit of data, because if they aren't prevented they will. I order to prevent this harm from being done, a clearly defined set of principles must be stated and written down so that everyone involved can have the same understanding when designing and approving studies.
Yes. Those are examples of science being done unethically. Science itself is a process that is ethically neutral so it can be used in both good and bad ways. That doesn't make it unethical by nature like the original post claims it is.
We are on the same page.
Scientific study is by nature unethical because one must do unethical things in it's pursuit. We have ethical frameworks around Scientific Study for a reason, and it isn't because it was doing fine without those frameworks.
Ah yes, everyone knows how famously unethical astronomers are, they should respect the privacy and consent of supernovas. Filthy perverts peeping on those innocent stars!
You should find something better to do than being a troll.
Funny, I was going to say the same to you
Why do you think that asking questions, making a hypothesis, testing that hypothesis and writing down the results is unethical?
Why do you think the context of the testing doesn't matter?
You said "science", not any specific type or category of study, so if you mean a specific school of science is unethical you should make that distinction.
Yes, because context matters. Exceptions don't make the rule, and speaking generally about things is allowed when they are related.
If you want to get into the semantics feel free. My statement is broad because it is a "shower thought".
This isn't debate club.
This isn't debate club.
If people aren't suppose to discuss and possibly disagree, why post? What do you think is the purpose of the showerthoughts community?
If people aren’t suppose to discuss and possibly disagree, why post?
I am open to discussion and disagreement. Look around the thread and tell me how many opening comments you see promoting discussion or civil disagreement.
What do you think is the purpose of the showerthoughts community?
To share "Shower thoughts".
Crazy concept I know.
Yes, because context matters. Exceptions don't make the rule, and speaking generally about things is allowed when they are related.
So what is the exception here? You said, and I quote, "science is by nature unethical". So you're saying any experimental methodology in any school of science exploring any number of completely benign things is somehow unethical.
This isn't debate club.
I see you're new to the internet.
Yes. Poking and prodding everything with no mind for repercussion is unethical, and that is where "Science" is rooted.
Now jog on.
Wut
Is the sentence hard to understand?
You just lumped all of “science” together. Even the science of documenting birdsong?
Can you tell me what goes in to the Science of birdsong? I am unfamiliar with the field and expect you to be able to give me a detailed response on what goes in to it as it is your example.
No thanks, this is too shallow of a shower thought.
No thanks, this is too shallow of a shower thought.
Why bother engaging in the first place if you won't follow up?
its just hard to understand how something so stupid can be said
The Wiki page defines ETHICS as
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right.
What you are doing is anthropomorphizing science. Science is a method system for understanding nature.
And without ethics in science, we get nightmare bastardization of science.
That doesn't mean his post is false though.
It absolutely proves his post false.
load more comments
(11 replies)
It's not hard to understand, despite being badly formulated, it's just very questionable.
load more comments
(5 replies)
this is like the shit i would say when i was 12, i am assuming the same about you
When you assume you make an ass out of you and me.
Found the psychopathic scientist!
Don't excuse a Nazi with mental disorders. Who do you think a person like this would choose to be unethical with? his parents? No probably the people he hates.
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
This is some Josef Mengele type of shit. Hope you like the tropical sun
To the pure science itself yes, but not to the larger environment resp. individuals. That's why there are usually checks in place.
load more comments
(5 replies)
view more: next ›