14 Scientific Experiments That Would Be Super Interesting But Can Never Happen Because... Ethics

There is only so far we can go with certain experiments before ethics becomes an issue and gets in the way.

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• January 25, 2020

Scientific research plays a huge role in our world's development. From biology to physics to astrology, there are endless studies conducted every day to help us get a better understanding of how things work and how we can make the world a better place.

But science also has its boundaries. There is only so far we can go with certain experiments before ethics becomes an issue and gets in the way.

Recently, in an AskReddit thread, users shared their ideas on scientific experiments they think would be “interesting and informative,” but can never actually be conducted due to ethics.

Scroll down to read through 14 of the best!

#1 A sex-segregated society.

“I’d like to see how a completely sex-segregated society worked. Take a group of baby boys and girls, then keep them from all contact with the opposite sex. All of their caretakers would be same-sex, media would be heavily censored, etc, the goal is to give them no concept of biological sex, because there’s nothing to compare yours too.

I’d be interested to see how kids like that end up. Would they still create a concept similar to gender or gender roles? How about romantic relationships? And how differently would it affect the two groups?”

#2 An extra terrestrial colony.

“One of the most cost-effective ways to colonize other star systems could be to send frozen, fertilized human embryos and have replicating machines there to raise them. You could send one probe the size of a car with all the information and material needed to create an extra terrestrial colony.”

#3 Far too dangerous and unpredictable.

“A theory states that if we were to lubricate fault lines, like that of the San Andreas fault, then we should be able to control movement and reduce the chance of larger earthquakes happening. In reality the experiment would be far too dangerous and unpredictable. Resistance and prediction are being experimented on more.”

#4 The forbidden experiment.

“Raising a child in complete silence, with no exposure to any sort of language is known as “the forbidden experiment”. There’s lots of theories about language acquisition that could be proved or disproved by it, but it’s obviously completely unethical. The closest thing is when people find feral children who have been raised away from humans, or severely abused children who’s parents have never spoken to them, like Genie.

“Pretty much any experiment when it comes to raising humans in captivity. So many things you could do aside from silence and that we’d be able to discover. But by raising them like that would be highly unethical.”

#5 Test the birth of civilization.

“Testing the birth of civilization by throwing a whole bunch of people into a closed off area with no tech and watch what happens over generations, and to make it more interesting you act like gods with the power to control the experiment and watch as a religion forms.”

#6 Selective breeding of humans.

“Selective breeding of humans solely to produce certain traits. The variety of dog and cat breeds is amazing. It would be amazing to see how far we could vary humans and introduce that kind of variability.”

“Well, dog generations turn over in just a couple of years, and they also have large litters. Human artificial selection would take much longer (at least 10 years per generation, 18 to account for moral considerations) and would require fertility drugs to induce multiple births.”

#7 Analyze poop and intestines.

“You start by feeding a large group of people identical diets. You analyze their poops to determine its exact chemical makeup. Then you remove various, specific parts of their intestines and analyze their poops again. The goal is to see which parts of the intestine absorb which nutrients.”

#8 Harmful during pregnancy.

“Basically anything about how different things impact outcomes during pregnancy. Is this drug safe to take during pregnancy or not? How about this herb? It’s amazing how many chemicals, drugs, and herbs are considered “questionable” for pregnant moms. You look at almost any tea on the market and there'll be something in there that someone says “may stimulate miscarriage” or “may harm developing baby.” Soap, deodorant, makeup, food – there are potential risks everywhere.

Now, a lot of people have a lot of these things in small amounts, but it’s still not really ethical to take a large group of people and say “This stuff MIGHT hurt or kill your baby. We’re going to give loads of it to some of you and something harmless to the rest and see what happens.”

#9 Cross-breed humans and different types of apes.

“Research into whether it’s possible to cross-breed humans and different types of apes. The level of genetic variation between humans and chimpanzees is about the same as the level between donkeys and horses (which can interbreed) so It’s at least theoretically possible. There was a scientist who did a little bit of work on this in the 1930’s but he got shut down pretty quick.”

#10 Human cloning.

“Human cloning to see if it’s possible, also to see if said clone is physically and mentally as viable as any other person, would a clone be given/have the same rights a normally born/reproduced person? or would it, he or she be treated like a drone/slave?”

#11 Cloning a chimpanzee or human and using it as an organic computer.

“Cloning a chimpanzee or human, harvesting the brain, slaving it to a life support system, lobotomizing it so that it’s incapable of independent thought, and creating an interface so that it can be used as an organic computer.”

#12 Simulate a horror movie.

“Simulate a horror movie like in The Cabin in the Woods.”

“This is actually a really good idea and could probably lend a ton of data capturing humans raw, seemingly uncontrolled fear. Showing people a scary movie isn’t the same as putting them through one.”

#13 The Truman Show.

“The entire plot of the Truman Show.”

“I’m sure there’s a small part in everyone which thinks that they might actually be in this sort of experiment.”

#14 Experimental countries.

“Test countries. Like, an experimental country where you implement fiscally liberal policies for 20 years and another where you implement fiscally conservative policies for 20 years. See which one in the end produces the stronger economy. There’s going to be lots of variables that are going to be hard to control, but still the results would be interesting.”

Do you have any ideas for an interesting scientific experiment?

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Stephanie