The real problem, however, is that by doing what he did, He appropriated responsibility for a decision that belongs to all of us. Scientific leaders now risk repeating the same error. To move forward in a positive direction, science must not presume to set the destination for a technology, but should follow the direction that we, the people, provide. Science is — and must be — in the service of the societies of which it is part.

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As US Senator Edward Kennedy remarked: “They were making public policy. And they were making it in private.” This allowed research to proceed, but at the price of public trust.

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