Should Any Limits Be Placed on Scientific Developments?

Man, powered by his imagination and inquisitive character, has wondered he mechanisms of Nature since time infinite. This quest for the truth, the ways in which his surrounding works, has led to many a scientific discoveries and innovations. Since the art of making fire and creating handcrafted tools, our civilization has come a long way. Science and Technology are making advances at an amazing rate. From telephones to the Internet, calculators to computers, cars to rockets and satellites, we are submerged in a sea of discoveries and inventions made possible by Science. Fields like Medicine and communications have made inroads into our cultures and thus our lifestyles.

So vast is the impact of Science in our lives, that people fear the unthinkable. It leads them to accusations such as Science tries to play God, as in the case of cloning. Repeatedly, it is also heard that we are so dependent on Science and Technology that we who create it are nothing but slaves to it. However I feel that it would not be wrong to term Science as a friend of Humanity. This faithful friend has come through many a times. We have reaped innumerable benefits out of this friendship. Therefore in the question of whether any limits should be placed on scientific developments, we have to assess whether these benefits and also the cons.

What better field of science then, to platform our discussion than the field of medicine and forensics, which has stirred much controversy?

Medicine has helped humankind in uncountable ways. People have started taking charge of their own health and life. Therefore, the life expectancy of a person living in the nineties is about twenty years more on an average from that which people enjoyed at the start of the last century. By the virtue of medicine, not only does a person live longer but also lives his life to the fullest in the best of health.

Deadly diseases such as small pox, plague and polio have caused a large number of epidemics resulting