Double standard?

[tking]

I'm not sure whether to just shake my head or be shaking in my shoes to find out that scientists are taking performance-enhancing drugs to "boost their concentration." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/ts_afp/healthscienceresearchersdrugs) So lemme see now, if they're published, are they gonna take away their recognition for that? Are they gonna take every discovery or research they've done and have it scrutinized? What if they developed a new drug?

It'll be interesting to see the public perception of this in light of the big stink over sports.

[JBaker45]

First I thought about the realm of sports and the issue is fairness (esp. where secularly promoted gambling is evolved). It becomes unethical when both teams are not playing by the same rules. It is a deception.

But then I came up with an angle concerning the education system...

It is true that some collage professors grade on a fixed scale, based solely on material learned and methods mastered (at least when I was in collage in the 80's).

But consider the case of the professor grading on the 'curve', a situation that was budding in my day but by now may be even more popular and frequent. If those students, who are pushing the curve higher, have done so in some artificial fashion, then those who abstain could suffer academically as a consequence.

Problem : Do we really want to ('in effect") force students to take these chemical enhancements? If not, then we need to address this issue.

[tking]

First I thought about the realm of sports and the issue is fairness (esp. where secularly promoted gambling is evolved). It becomes unethical when both teams are not playing by the same rules. It is a deception.

This is true, but in that light, I'm left thinking about our nephew who's in research at Tulane in the stem cell arena (at least that's what he's been doing for several years, neuroscience is his field). Every year the battle for funding is enormous. When we have performance-enhanced scientists, that playing field isn't equal either.


But then I came up with an angle concerning the education system...

It is true that some collage professors grade on a fixed scale, based solely on material learned and methods mastered (at least when I was in collage in the 80's).

But consider the case of the professor grading on the 'curve', a situation that was budding in my day but by now may be even more popular and frequent. If those students, who are pushing the curve higher, have done so in some artificial fashion, then those who abstain could suffer academically as a consequence.

Problem : Do we really want to ('in effect") force students to take these chemical enhancements? If not, then we need to address this issue.

Yeah, and the article did mention these scientists saying they would feel pressured to give them to their children if they found out that other students were using them. I don't know how prevalent the curve issue is. I know our daughter that just finished up her Vet. Tech degree didn't have a professor that graded on the curve, but it seems like our oldest daughter did have.

My first thought was on drug development and what the ramifications could be if the ethics committees, funding committees, pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, etc. ran with this like they have in sports. And then beyond that, IF something was found to be iffy about a drug or a treatment, what kind of lawsuits could follow. The ripple effect of it would be staggering.

[Tallen]

I'm not sure whether to just shake my head or be shaking in my shoes to find out that scientists are taking performance-enhancing drugs to "boost their concentration." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/ts_afp/healthscienceresearchersdrugs)So lemme see now, if they're published, are they gonna take away their recognition for that? Are they gonna take every discovery or research they've done and have it scrutinized? What if they developed a new drug?

It'll be interesting to see the public perception of this in light of the big stink over sports.

It's just more idolatry and the sacrafice that folks are willing to make to their gods. We shouldn't be surprised, when we (as a society) have taken religion out of our science, invented ethics other than what God has commanded and placed them into our science, and made competition rewarded with money the top prize for those that are in any area, sports, acedemics, science or any other field. If your income is solely based upon your performance judged within competition, then these things will always happen. We reward immorality and justify it by some "preceived" standard of performance.