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Nothing should be done to impede people from teaching and doing their research even if at that very moment it was being used to massacre and destroy. [...] the radical students and I wanted to keep the labs on campus, on the principle that what is going to be going on anyway ought to be open and above board, so that people would know what is happening and act accordingly.

Noam Chomsky#170

EthicsResearchScienceTransparency

About this quote

What does it mean?
Chomsky argues research should remain open and accessible even if misused, so people can know the truth and act on it rather than hiding it.
In plain terms
Keep research open even if it is used for bad things so people can see the truth and react.
What can you take from it?
Transparency enables public oversight better than restricting information.

Where it applies

  • academic policy
  • research ethics
  • public debate

Putting it to work

  • support open access
  • ensure transparency in military research

Questions to consider

  • Is transparency always better than restriction?
  • How do we manage dual-use research?

Another view

Absolute openness ignores risks of dangerous technologies falling into wrong hands.

More from Noam Chomsky

  1. Watergate was a matter of a bunch of guys from the Republican National Committee breaking in a Democratic Party office for essentially unknown reasons and doin…

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  2. If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Goebbels was in favor of freedom of speech for views he liked. …

    Permalink to quote #171
  3. If we try to keep a sense of balance, the exposures of the past several months are analogous to the discovery that the directors of Murder, Inc. were also chea…

    Permalink to quote #168

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