Science and Ethics
Science is a tested, verifiable and organized set of knowledge. The field of ethics focuses on ideals, behavior, the question of good and evil and the consequences of a certain act. Understanding that science is a form of activity aimed for improving the civilization, we also understand that these activities can at the same time have very unpredictable and unforeseeable consequences, so ethics has to be the consciousness of Science. History is full of examples of establishing ethical standards in Science. Let's remember the Hippocratic Oath, the Oath of Maimonides, and in newer history the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, a document that warns us of dangers of weapons of mass destruction – and the main document for the establishment of Pugwash, in July 1957. Paul Berg, an American biochemist and professor at the Stanford University, was one of the initiators of the famous Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA (modified DNA) in 1975. The Conference was a forum for d...