Until about the 1980s, scientists occasionally conducted cruel experiments on people. For example, in 1965, American psychologist John Money decided to prove that human gender is determined not by nature, but by upbringing. Under his guidance, the parents of a boy named Bruce Reimer raised the child as if he was born a girl. Ultimately, this experiment led to serious mental problems for the boy, and he completely lost all hope for a happy life. Today, such experiments are impossible – people are even against scientists conducting experiments on animals. But what if these prohibitions did not exist? What terrible experiments could scientists conduct?
Scientists would love to do some experiments, but they are banned for ethical reasons
Reddit users once described what kind of experiments would be conducted in the absence of ethical frameworks. After reading these fantasies, one can be horrified by what humanity is capable of in the name of science.
Contents
- 1 How serial killers appear
- 2 The most important language in the world
- 3 Olympic Games with doping
- 4 Genetically modified animals
- 5 Childbirth in space
- 6 Human-animal hybrids
How serial killers appear
One of the users thought that scientists could create a clone of one of the many serial killers. The clone would have all the same psychological deviations that could be passed on to a maniac by inheritance. He would be given to a model family and see what he would become in the end. The experiment would show what has the greatest influence on a person's criminal inclinations: environment or genes?
American serial killer Ted Bundy. Photo: kinoafisha.info
In fairness, it should be noted that this experiment would be difficult to conduct not only for ethical reasons. It would be very difficult to discreetly monitor the life of a clone. And creating a person who could secretly commit bloody murders is too risky an undertaking.
The Most Important Language in the World
Another idea of an unethical experiment on children is to keep them in complete isolation. The medieval emperor Frederick II already tried to conduct such an experiment. He ordered to keep two children isolated from the rest of the world in order to find out what language they would speak. In this way, the ruler wanted to find out what language is the main one for humanity.
Medieval Children. Image: jessehurlbut.net
Needless to say, the experiment failed because the babies died due to lack of proper care. Even if they had survived, the experiment would have at most proven that children need socialization to learn to speak.
Modern scientists could, in theory, conduct a similar experiment to observe the development of children in isolation. But no one would ever give permission for this, because it is one of the most inhumane ideas one could come up with.
Read also: Which language is considered the “fastest” in the world
Olympic Games with doping
Without a framework, humanity could hold the Olympic Games on steroids. If every athlete took doping, we would be able to find out what the human body is really capable of. Almost all sports records in the world would be broken.
It is possible that we have long known how strong a person becomes on steroids. Doping at the Olympic Games has probably been used for a long time – athletes just take substances that are unknown to doctors.
Under doping, the human body can perform real miracles. Image: intrigue.dating
In the future, the Olympic Games on steroids may be held at the expense of American billionaire Peter Thiel, who is known as one of the creators of the PayPal payment system. All participants are planned to be allowed to take any substances to improve their performance. Spectacular competitions are expected as early as 2025. Are we waiting?
Everyone should know about this: What is doping and when did it start to be used in sports?
Genetically modified animals
Experiments on animals are considered cruel in many countries. But as a result of these experiments, it is possible to create very useful animals.
For example, thanks to genetic engineering, it is quite possible to grow a breed of dog that can see in the infrared range. With this ability, they could quickly find people under the rubble after devastating earthquakes.
Genetic engineering could help create unrivaled rescue dogs. Image: newstula.ru
But such an experiment could also be conducted in the future. In some countries, like South Korea, animal experiments are permitted. In 2007, glow-in-the-dark cats were born there, which are less likely to be hit by cars in the dark.
Birth of a child in space
One user suggested that scientists could send a pregnant woman into space. She would give birth to a child inside a space station, and scientists would be able to observe its development far from Earth. It would be better to expand the experiment to several generations of people – this way we can learn about the long-term effects of space on the human body.
There have never been pregnant women in space, it's too risky. Image: life.ru
Again, such an experiment will probably be conducted in the future. Let's not forget that in a few decades, humanity hopes to fly to Mars. SpaceX founder Elon Musk believes that people who have gone to the Red Planet will never return to Earth.
Read also: Why women are better suited to fly to Mars than men
Human-Animal Hybrids
In the first half of the 20th century, Soviet animal biologist Ilya Ivanov tried to create a human-monkey hybrid. During his experiments, he artificially inseminated female primates with human sperm. He also tried to inseminated a woman with monkey semen. The experiments ended in failure.
Such experiments are currently prohibited because they could result in the birth of deformed living creatures doomed to suffering. But some research groups are conducting experiments that are on the edge. For example, in 2023, Chinese scientists managed to create a human-pig hybrid — they made it so that human kidneys grew inside the animal. After the success, the embryo was killed.
A pig embryo is very similar to a human one. Image: gazeta.ru
It is believed that growing human organs inside animals will solve the problem of the shortage of donor materials. In the long term, this could save millions of lives, but scientists are acting extremely carefully.
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