Ellis wrote:
"Unfortunately there is some research that should perhaps not be done. (Now that is a heracy to a scientist."
Actually it is a bit more difficult than that. There are certainly ethical issues related to some projects. But I don't think any knowledge should be off-limits.
The decisions as to what to do with the knowledge. For example knowing that hydrogen can be fused into helium, might be used to understand the sun or to build bombs. The implementation of the technology to destructive ends is not a matter of science but rather one where society needs to take control. Tens of thousands of gas centrifuges, for example, don't build themselves.
I don't find this research to involve any ethical issues. Though I will readily acknowledge that there may be ethical issues, in the future, with respect to implementation.
However if the end result of this research is that sperms are not required to create happy healthy babies in the arms of loving mothers who want them. The only ethical issue I can see is whether we can use duct tape on the mouths of the dinosaurs.
