Governments should place few, if any, restrictions on scientific research and development.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In deve

There is significant merit in the recommendation that goverment should not constrain scientific research and development with its rules and regulation. Scientific curiosity should not be constrained by the wills of the government, nor their development be shaped by ideological bent of people in power. However, in a few sectors of scientific research and develpoment, such restrictions may be desirable because of highly sensitive nature of their work which, otherwise, could lead to significant national security and public health issues.

When governments places undue restrictions on scientific research, they tend to kill the creativity of the scientist and researchers. Sometimes the most important and fundamental development in the science comes when people work with absolute independence and without much near term consideration. For example, when Newton discovered Gravitational Force, there was no immediate application of the discovery palpable. Had the governments decided to restrict scientific research and development to what it thought was useful, it may never have been discovered. But, today many application, from space shuttles to aeroplanes which millions use to hop over the globe every day, would not have been possible without it.

Similarly, use of government policies to restrict scientific research could be misused to direct scietific research to ideological pursuits of ruling class and oppose and stop any reserach which may threaten their (politician's) position. For example, in 16th century, the Church which was very powerful and quasi government in nature, decided to oppose scientists like Galileo and Copernicus whose discovery it saw as a threat to its position of god and earth in the cosmos. Another example is the current government of Australia. The government's ideological position is against the scientific consensus of man made nature of current global warming of the Earth. As a result, the government has decided to stop several government funding to scientists who are working on it. It has also used every means possible to suppress the evidences for the man made nature of global warming to get public platform in Australia. Surely, such a policy could prove hugely detrimental to the mankind, if the current global warming is proved to be artificial in nature with catastrophic consequences for the food production and ocean life.

However, some may rightly argue, that unfettered scientific research in certain domains may not be exactly a good thing for mankind as well. For example, if the scientific research was allowed in nuclear technology without restriction, then there was little a government can do to stop a terrorist organization like ISIS or a rogue state like North Korea in getting these extremely sensitive technology from scientist and researchers in developed country.

In sum, it is true, in general, that the government should place as few restriction as possible on scientific reserach and development. However, in certain domains of the scientific research, it is essential to put certain restrictions on them in light of greater concerns for public safety and security.