Should scientific research have any limitations placed on it?
The scientific method is a tool just like a hammer. It is inherently amoral, neither immoral or moral. The morality is supplied by the person or group using the scientific method. As a long time (40+ year) scientist, I can tell you that scientific research does have inherent limitations placed on it. Scientific research is somewhat expensive and the payoff is back-end loaded in the sense that the payoff comes years after the expense and there is no guarantee of payoff. So the only scientific research that gets done is the research which someone (the government, schools, private companies, individuals) choose to fund and support. There may be some brilliant ideas out there but they will never be pursued if they don’t get the scarce funds necessary to develop them. I have known a number of significant scientists and, frankly, they are all quite skillful promoters of their ideas, their research laboratories, etc. Those scientists with great ideas who just want to go in their lab and work
