American Science: Ethical Conflicts and Political

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American Science: Ethical Conflicts and Political Choices

Fall 2007

Sequence of four maps showing diminishing area of arctic ice coverage.

The science and politics of climate change are among the topics covered in this class. This image shows the diminishing extent of Arctic sea ice coverage in September: clockwise from top left, 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2007. White shows ice greater than 5 years old, while light blue depicts thinner ice less than 5 years old. (Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Interior.)

Course Description

We will explore the changing political choices and ethical dilemmas of American scientists from the atomic scientists of World War II to biologists in the present wrestling with the questions raised by cloning and other biotechnologies. As well as asking how we would behave if confronted with the same choices, we will try to understand the choices scientists have made by seeing them in their historical and political contexts. Some of the topics covered include: the original development of nuclear weapons and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the effects of the Cold War on American science; the space shuttle disasters; debates on the use of nuclear power, wind power, and biofuels; abuse of human subjects in psychological and other experiments; deliberations on genetically modified food, the human genome project, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research; and the ethics of archaeological science in light of controversies over museum collections.

Special Features

Special feature video

Technical Requirements

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .mp4.

Syllabus

This section contains documents that could not be made accessible to screen reader software. A "#" symbol is used to denote such documents.

Description

Requirements

Course requirements include three 6-7 page papers, and a final exam. Besides lectures, there will be class videos. As far as the class size permits, there will also be considerable class discussion, and you should come prepared to share your thoughts and engage your classmates in debate. That means doing the reading before class; motivational help will be in the form of unannounced reading quizzes during the term.

Regular attendance is required and unexcused absences will be penalized. If you need to miss a class (traveling for interviews, family or health emergencies), please phone or email the instructor ahead of time so your absence can be excused. Absences for religious observance are allowed.

Grading

The final course grade will be determined as follows:

Grading criteria.
Activities	Percentages
Class participation	10%
Reading quizzes	10%
First paper grade	20%
Second paper grade	20%
Third paper grade	20%
Final exam grade	20%

Plagiarism

Finally, a word about plagiarism. The MIT website says this about plagiarism: "Plagiarism is a very serious offense. If it is found that you have plagiarized — deliberately or inadvertently — you may face serious consequences. In some instances, plagiarism has meant that students have had to leave the institutions where they were studying. MIT addresses plagiarism and its consequences in Policies and Procedures, section 10. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources - both within the body of your paper and in a bibliography of sources you used at the end of your paper."

See "Academic Integrity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A Handbook for Students" (July 2007) for an excellent overview of these issues.

Calendar

Course schedule.
LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Introduction
I. Military influence on American science
2	World War II: Hiroshima, Nagasaki
3	Manhattan project
4	Science, military research, and the national security state Guest lecturer: Prof. David Kaiser
5	Military influence on American science
6	Apollo space program Guest lecturer: Prof. David Mindell
II. Risk
7	Space program: Challenger and Columbia
8	Space program: Challenger and Columbia (cont.) Guest lecturer: Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman	Essay 1 due
9	Health and environment
10	Health and environment (cont.)
11	Biotechnology: genetically modified foods
12	Biotechnology: stem cell research
13	Biotechnology: stem cell research (cont.)
14	Biotechnology: cloning
15	Biotechnology: market forces
16	Biotechnology: genome and health insurance
17	Biotechnology: genome and health insurance (cont.)	Essay 2 due
III. The environment
18	Climate change research
19	Climate change research (cont.) Guest lecturer: Dr. William Curry, WHOI
20	Alternatives to fossil fuels Guest lecturer: Mark Rogers, Communications Director, Cape Wind
IV. Politics, ethics, and social science
21	Experimentation on human subjects
22	Experimentation on human subjects (cont.) Guest lecturer: Prof. David Jones
23	Archaeological science: politics of antiquities trade and collection Guest lecturers: Katie Getchell and Christine Kondoleon, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
24	Archaeological science: ethical conflicts and political choices in deep water archeological research	Essay 3 due
25	Politics in the public presentation of science Guest lecturer: Raney Aronson-Rath, Senior Producer, WGBH Boston
26	Conclusions: review of term, discuss final exam

Further Reading:

Readings files.
LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
I. Military influence on American science
2	World War II: Hiroshima, Nagasaki	Documentary segment: The Fog of War. Directed by Errol Morris, 2004. Stimson, Henry. "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb." Harpers Magazine (February 1947): 97-107. Walker, J. S. "The Decision to Use the Bomb." Diplomatic History 14 (1990): 97-114. Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005, pp. 1-6, 179-214, and 298-300. ISBN: 9780674016934.
3	Manhattan Project	Documentary segment: The Day After Trinity. Directed by Jon Else, 1981. Rotblat, Joseph. "Leaving the Bomb Project." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 41 (August 1985): 16-19. Oppenheimer, Robert. "Speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists, November 2, 1945." In Oppenheimer, Robert: Letters and Reflections. Edited by Alice Kimball Smith and Charles Weiner. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980, pp. 315-325. ISBN: 9780674776050. Sherwin, Martin. "The Two Policemen." In A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance. New York, NY: Vintage, 1973), pp. 90-114. ISBN: 9780394497945. Bird, Kai, and Martin Sherwin. Preface, "The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization," and "Now We're All Sons-of-bitches." In American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. New York, NY: Knopf Books, 2005. ISBN: 9780375726262.
4	Science, military research, and the national security state Guest lecturer: Prof. David Kaiser	Weiner, Norbert. "A Scientist Rebels." Atlantic Monthly (January 1947): 46. Whiteley, John. "The Hanford Nuclear Reservation." Critical Masses: Citizens, Nuclear Weapons Production, and Environmental Destruction in the United States. Edited by Russell Dalton et al. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780262541039. O'Neill, Dan. "Alaska and the Firecracker Boys: The Story of Project Chariot." In The Atomic West. Edited by Bruce Hevly and John Findlay. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780295977164. Siever, Ray. "Doing Earth Science Research During the Cold War." In The Cold War and the University. Edited by Noam Chomsky, et al. New York, NY: New Press, 1998, pp. 147-170. ISBN: 9781565843974.
5	Military influence on American science	Nelkin, Dorothy. The University and Military Research: Moral Politics at MIT. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972, pp. 1-13 and 54-65. ISBN: 9780801407116. Glenn, David. "Cloak and Classroom." Chronicle of Higher Education (25 March 2005): 14. Bush, Vannevar. "Science, Democracy, and War," and "Cold War." Modern Arms and Free Men. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1949. Galison, Peter. "Removing Knowledge." Critical Inquiry 31 (Autumn 2004). Russell-Einstein Manifesto, 1955.
6	Apollo space program Guest lecturer: Prof. David Mindell	Mindell, David. "Human and Machine in the Race to the Moon" and "Chauffeurs and Airmen in the Age of Systems." Chapters 1 and 2 in Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780262134972.
II. Risk
7	Space program: Challenger and Columbia	Perrow, Charles. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 3-12, 15-31, and 304-339. ISBN: 9780691004129. Whitbeck, Caroline. "Two Models of Professional Behavior: Roger Boisjoly and the Challenger, William Lemessurier's Fifty-Nine Story Crisis." In Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 133-156. ISBN: 9780521479448. Videos President Ronald Reagan's address to the nation on Space Shuttle Challenger loss (YouTube, MP4 - 7.5 MB) NASA documentary video on Space Shuttle Challenger accident and investigation (View and download video from The Internet Archive.)
8	Space program: Challenger and Columbia (cont.) Guest lecturer: Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman	Langewiesche, William. "Columbia's Last Flight." The Atlantic Monthly (November 2003). Optional NASA STS-107 Investigation reference page - email traffic regarding thermal problems for Columbia and possible scenarios upon re-entry, NASA reports on thermal protection of orbiters, etc.
9	Health and environment	Carson, Rachel. "A Fable for Tomorrow," "The Obligation to Endure," and "The Rumblings of an Avalanche." Chapters 1, 2, and 16 in Silent Spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. ISBN: 9780141184944. Rosenberg, Tina. "What the World Needs Now is DDT." New York Times Magazine (April 11, 2004): 38-43. Gladwell, Malcolm. "Big and Bad." New Yorker (January 12, 2004): 28-33.
10	Health and environment (cont.)	Documentary segment: Dangerous Prescription. PBS Frontline, 2003. Bach, Fritz, et al. "Uncertainty in Xenotransplantation: Individual Benefit Versus Collective Risk." Nature Medicine 4 (1998): 141-144. Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. "Deadly Immunity." Salon (June 16, 2005). Stehr-Green, Paul, et al. "Autism and Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 25 (2003): 101-106. Hughes, Virginia. "Mercury Rising." Nature Medicine 13 (2007): 896 - 897.
11	Biotechnology: genetically modified foods	Documentary segment: Harvest of Fear. PBS Frontline/NOVA, 2001. Gusterson, Hugh. "Decoding the Debate on Frankenfood." In Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties. Edited by Betsy Hartmann, Banu Subramaniam, and Charles Zerner. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. ISBN: 9780742549074. Gaskell, George, Martin W. Bauer, John Durant, and Nicholas C. Allum. "Worlds Apart? The Reception of Genetically Modified Foods in Europe and the U.S." Science 285 (July 16, 1999): 384-387. Falk, Michael C., Bruce M. Chassy, Susan K. Harlander, Thomas J. Hoban, IV, Martina N. McGloughlin, and Amin R. Akhlaghi. "Food Biotechnology: Benefits and Concerns." Journal of Nutrition (2002): 1384-1390. Singh, Om V., Shivani Ghai, Debarati Paul, and Rakesh K. Jain. "Genetically Modified Crops: Success, Safety Assessment, and Public Concern." Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 71 (2006): 598-607. Balter, Michael. "Seeking Agriculture's Ancient Roots." Science 316 (June 29, 2007): 1830-1835.
12	Biotechnology: stem cell research	Fischbach, Gerald D., and Ruth L. Fischbach. "Stem Cells: Science, Policy, and Ethics." The Journal of Clinical Investigation 114 (November 2004): 1364-1370. Gilbert, David M. "The Future of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Addressing Ethical Conflict with Responsible Scientific Research." Med Sci Monit 10 (2004): RA99-103. Taylor, Patrick L. "The Gap between Law and Ethics in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Overcoming the effect of U.S. Federal Policy on Research Advances and Public Benefit." Science and Engineering Ethics 11 (2005): 589-616.
13	Biotechnology: stem cell research (cont.)	Dresser, Rebecca. "Stem Cell Research: The Bigger Picture." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 48 (2005): 181-94. Smith, Shane William Neaves, and Steven Teitelbaum. "Adult Stem Cell Treatments for Diseases?" Science 313 (July 28, 2006): 439. Green, Ronald M. "Benefiting From 'Evil': An Incipient Moral Problem in Human Stem Cell Research." Bioethics 16 (2002): 544-556.
14	Biotechnology: cloning	Lewontin, Richard. "The Confusion Over Cloning" New York Review of Books (23 October 1997): 18-24. Kass, Leon. "The Wisdom of Repugnance: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning." In The Human Cloning Debate. 3rd Edition. Edited by Glenn McGee. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Hills Books, 2002, pp. 58-67. ISBN: 9781893163416.
15	Biotechnology: market forces	Press, Eyal, and Jennifer Washburn. "The Kept University." Atlantic Monthly (March 3, 2000): 39-54. Willman, David. "The National Institutes of Health: Public Servant or Private Marketer?" Los Angeles Times (22 December 2004). Brennan, T., et al. "Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest." Journal of the American Medical Association 295 (2006): 429. Marshall, Eliot. "Need a Reagent? Just Sign Here..." Science (October 10, 1997): 212-213. Zalewski, Daniel. "Ties That Bind." Lingua Franca 7, no. 5 (June/July 1997): 51-59. Finkel, Michael. "This Little Kidney Went to Market." New York Times Magazine, no. 27 (May 2001).
16	Biotechnology: genome and health insurance	Hudson, Kathy L., et al. "Genetic Discrimination and Health Insurance: An Urgent Need for Reform." Science 270 (October 20, 1995): 391-393. Kass, Leon R. "The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology." Commentary (September 1999): 32-38. Jeffords, James M., and Tom Daschle. "Viewpoint - Policy Issues: Political Issues in the Genome Era." Science 291 (February 16, 2001): 1249 - 1251. The President's Council on Bioethics. Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness. Washington, D.C., October 2003. [Skim this document - not necessary to close-read it.]
17	Biotechnology: genome and health insurance (cont.)	Wolf, Susan M., and Jeffrey P. Kahn. "Genetic Testing and the Future of Disability Insurance: Ethics, Law & Policy." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 6-32. Dodge, John H., and David J. Christianson. "Genetic Testing and Disability Insurance: An Alternative Opinion." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 33-35. Silvers, Anita. "Predictive Genetic Testing: Congruence of Disability Insurers' Interests with the Public Interest." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 52-58.
III. The environment
18	Climate change research	Film segment: An Inconvenient Truth. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, 2006. Oreskes, Naomi. "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change." Science 306 (December 3, 2004): 1686. Lindzen, Richard. "There is No Consensus on Global Warming." Wall Street Journal, no. 26 (June 2006). Oreskes, Naomi. "Global Warming: Signed, Sealed, And Delivered." Los Angeles Times, no. 25 (July 2006). [Prof. Oresekes replies to Prof. Lindzen.] ———. "The Long Consensus On Climate Change." Washington Post, no. 1 (February 2007).
19	Climate change research (cont.) Guest lecturer: Dr. William Curry, WHOI	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007. "Summary for Policymakers." ———. "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Technical Summary." # [Look over the table of contents, read the parts that catch your attention.]
20	Alternatives to fossil fuels Guest lecturer: Mark Rogers, Communications Director, Cape Wind	Runge, C. Ford, and Benjamin Senauer. "How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor." Foreign Affairs 86 (May/June 2007): 41-54. Natural Resources Defense Council. "Nuclear Facts." (February 2007). Wald, Matthew. "The Best Nuclear Option." Technology Review (July 1, 2006): 6 pages. U.S. Department of Energy White Paper. "Natural Gas in the New England Region: Implications for Offshore Wind Generation and Fuel Diversity" (2004). Cape Wind. "Comparison of Cape Wind Scientific Data Tower Wind Speed Data with ISO New England List of Top Ten Electric Demand Days." (July 2, 2007). Kennedy, Edward. "Statement on the Cape Wind Project." U.S. Senate (May 9, 2006): 1-10. Daschle, Tom, C. Ford Runge, and Benjamin Senauer. "Food for Fuel?" Foreign Affairs (September/October 2007).
IV. Politics, ethics, and social science
21	Experimentation on human subjects	"The Nuremberg Code," from Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949. Slater, Lauren. "Obscura: Stanley Milgram and Obedience to Authority." In Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Norton, 2005. ISBN: 9780393326550. Documentary segment: Obedience. Directed by Stanley Milgram. Penn State University, DVD, 1993. (Original release 1965)
22	Experimentation on human subjects (cont.) Guest lecturer: Prof. David Jones	Angell, Marcia. "The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World." New England Journal of Medicine 337 (1997): 847-849. Brandt, A. M. "Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study." Hastings Center Report 8 (December 1978): pp. 21-29. Lurie, P., and S. M. Wolfe. "Unethical Trials of Interventions to Reduce Perinatal Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Developing Countries." New England Journal of Medicine 337 (1997): 853-856. Correspondence. New England Journal of Medicine 338 (1998): 836-844. MIT's human subjects training
23	Archaeological science: politics of antiquities trade and collection Guest lecturers: Katie Getchell and Christine Kondoleon, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	Eakin, Hugh. "Review of The Medici Conspiracy." New York Review of Books 53, no. 9 (May 25, 2006): 1-13.
24	Archaeological science: ethical conflicts and political choices in deep water archeological research	Ballard, R. D., et al. "The Discovery of Ancient History in the Deep Sea Using Advanced Deep Submergence Technology." Deep-Sea Research I 47 (2000): 1591-1620. [1997 deep water project that raised political and ethical issues.] Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. UNESCO, 2001.
25	Politics in the public presentation of science Guest lecturer: Raney Aronson-Rath, Senior Producer, WGBH Boston
26	Conclusions: review of term, discuss final exam