Metacognitive Reading Report 1 (40 points). The Medawar Lecture ‘Is Science Dangerous?

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Module 1 Section 1. Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society

Name: John Christian S. Fuentes

Course/Section: BSCE/B53 Date Submitted: November 21, 2021
Instructions: After reading Lewis Wolpert’s The Medawar Lecture 1998 ‘Is Science Dangerous?’, reflect
and answer the following questions.
1. Obligatory Question – What did Lewis Wolpert mean when he stated that ‘reliable scientific
knowledge is value-free and has no moral or ethical value’ (p. 1254)? Following this premise, when
does science become subjected to questions of ethics and morality?

I think it means that science collects and organizes data in order to generate an understanding of
how things work in the real world. It also means that it is up to us to decide how we will value
science. With the help of ethics and morality, it helps science to be guided by what is right and
what is wrong and it guarantees that science is safely done and reliable.

2. Obligatory Question – In urging scientists to understand public concerns, Wolpert maintains, “It
is most important that they [scientists] do not allow themselves to become the unquestioning tools
of either government or industry” (p. 1258). What did he mean by this? Cite a local example related
to the country’s COVID-19-response.

I think he mean by this is that they [scientists] must be cautious and always be precise of the
studies that they work on because they might be cause of disbelief. For example, the COVID
vaccine. Most of the people here in the country don’t easily believe the efficacy of the vaccine
because the vaccine was made in a short span of time. They believe that the vaccine was not
fully tested and it is lacking of medical research.

3. Obligatory Question – Lewis Wolpert called eugenics a ‘rare case of immoral science’. Why did
he say so? Could the eugenics movement have been otherwise (moral)? Or was it ‘immoral’ right at
the start? Defend your answer.

He said it because he didn’t understand what is Science. I think it is immoral from the start because
we have the right to live freely and peacefully. Sometimes it depends on the person on how they
will take control of their life. For example, we can hear stories that a student that got a Cum Laude
and he/she was raised by parents that are not that very intelligent.

4. Free Choice Item– Towards the end of his article, Wolpert raised questions regarding the
intersections of science and technology with politics. Choose one of the questions Wolpert raised
and provide a practical answer/solution to it.

a. How do we ensure that the public are involved in decision making [on science and politics]?
b. How can we ensure that scientists, doctors, engineers, bioethicists, and other experts, who
must be involved [in politics], do not appropriate decisions for themselves?
c. How do we ensure that scientists take on the social obligation of making the implications
of their work public?
 Scientists should have the sense of responsibility to be able to communicate and legal use of science
in order to address the questions of the community. They must be a role model to others especially to
the students because someday the students will be inspired to be a scientist and it is because of the
scientists that gave them knowledge and skills to them.