# What scientific experiments would you like done if ethics was not a concern? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287 "2013-10-26T04:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/21 "2013-10-26T20:43:59Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I would like to take people that claim that absolutely cannot lose weight or get fit and put them into a strict militaristic program where everything is controlled down to the last piece of food. This isn’t a short-term program. We are talking a near biosphere of former fatties. You have to live in a traditional hunter-gatherer society and we see if the claims still hold after 10 years and what the long-term effects are. The only saving grace of this program is that is backed up by modern medical doctors and support personnel that ensure that people don’t fight over food. Literally starving to death will be prevented as well but only in the most extreme circumstances. Obviously someone not getting enough calories to live would lose weight as they starve; the question is whether they could lose weight without being continually sick, weak, and half-insane with food cravings. Maybe a drill sargent with a cattle prod could force them to exercise; or maybe they would turn out to have undiagnosed cases of chronic fatigue syndrome. And surprisingly enough, hunter-gatherers who are otherwise fit seem to very commonly be paunchy; not a six-pack in sight. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/22 "2013-10-26T20:48:10Z")
> [@11811](#): > > I would like to conjoin two previously separate people. [Why stop at two?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1467304/) ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/23 "2013-10-26T21:04:08Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Can Sarah Palin take a punch from a gorilla? How about two? Maybe three? Two punches, or two gorillas? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/24 "2013-10-26T21:06:30Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Find out how many woodchucks would \*actually \*chuck wood. 😃 > > It’s been said, but I’d go further: separate identical twins and raise one in abject poverty with abusive parents, the other with kind parents in a well-to-do home. Check on how happy and successful each was after they’re dead. After they’re dead, they’re probably equally happy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/25 "2013-10-26T21:24:54Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Shift the brains of people high in social status with those low in social status, see how that effects attitudes about psychology and sociology. [Like this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Places)? > [@](#): > > I would also like to do a repeat of the [domesticated silver fox study](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox) done on humans. One tried to create tame, happy peaceful animals through selective breeding and one tried to create violent, dangerous animals who reacted badly to people. Doing an experiment on selective breeding to create different races of humans (a race of loving, peaceful perpetually happy and joyous humans; a race of super geniuses; a race of dangerous psychopaths) and seeing how long each one takes. I wonder if it would take less than 100 generations of selective breeding to achieve these things. Obviously, because it is selective breeding you would accommodate for whatever issues come up (if you create geniuses and this increases the risk of various neurological problems, you provide medical treatment to the sick). See also [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloi) and [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlock). But more seriously, a gene implicated in aggression controls levels of [MAO-A](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_A) A human project would take much longer than the foxes because we breed faster. The foxes were/would be well stabilized by generation 100. > [@](#): > > Also an experiment to see what happens if you bathe children in love, affection and acceptance during the first 6 years of life, does that drastically alter long term crime/mental illness/quality of life variables or do people tend to respond genetically instead of via nurturance to that. I am not up on the literature, but I know that data exists for that question, and depends on the trait. Obviously it is correlational, but I’ll guess that genes have a stronger influence than most people assume. What you might find is that e.g. a gene for thrill-seeking would cause Mr. Crappy Childhood to become an armed robber and Mr. Nice Parents to be into extreme sports, but the gene is putting them both in dangerous, antiadaptive situations. > [@aesop](#): > > [Why stop at two?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1467304/) Also, [these critters](http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Vozhd). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/26 "2013-10-26T23:06:54Z")
As several dopers have noted a lot of these isolation experiments have already kinda-sorta been done on humans (without controls) and monkeys (with controls). It usually leaves the child permanently crippled cognitively and emotionally. Per Shagnasty I’m not clear that anyone is claiming some obese people can’t lose weight period through dietary restriction and exercise, only that some obese people claim it is very difficult to do this re getting calories low enough to show significant weight loss without suffering other negative health effects. I’m at the low end of the human metabolism speed range and (based on years of calorie counting) it takes about 9 - 10 calories per lb of body weight per day to support my weight even though I exercise intensively 3 times a week for one hour at a time and walk several miles at a time 2-3 times a week. This means I could support a weight of 225-230 lbs on 2000 -2200 calories a day even though I am pretty active. That is not a lot of food for 6’3", man but that’s my world. Assuming, based on random genetics, there is some obese individual as a statistical outlier that only needs 7-8 calories per lb of body weight per day. That person would weigh 300 lbs eating only 2100 -2200 calories per day. Assuming their target weight is 180 lbs they can only eat 1,260 calories per day to maintain that. That’s a big lunch. Do people like this exist? I’m sure they are rare, but I don’t think I’d bet that they don’t. I’ve lost weight when I was younger doing stupid starvation diets of 1200 calories per day. I can’t conceive trying to exist like that long term. If someone has super slow metabolism clock and high-normal appetite I can see them feeling that weight loss dieting is a horrific gauntlet vs just a PITA. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/27 "2013-10-27T00:12:03Z")
Find a member of any royal family having blue blood. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/28 "2013-10-27T00:39:27Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Find a member of any royal family having blue blood. If I take that literally, we could totally make some more [blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methemoglobinemia) [Fugates](http://www.nclark.net/FugateFamily.gif)! [Some](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Jones_%28politician%29) [people](http://static.environmentalgraffiti.com/sites/default/files/images/http-inlinethumb48.webshots.com-41455-2068003290103830173S600x600Q85.jpg) cheat by being crazy. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/29 "2013-10-27T05:36:50Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Create a Human-Chimp hybrid Ha, I entered this thread to say “Humanzee.” Beat me by a long shot! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/30 "2013-10-27T06:59:32Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > It’s been said, but I’d go further: separate identical twins and raise one in abject poverty with abusive parents, the other with kind parents in a well-to-do home. Check on how happy and successful each was after they’re dead. I confidently predict that neither will be in the least happy or successful after they are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/31 "2013-10-27T09:01:45Z")
> [@wheresmymind](#): > > Ha, I entered this thread to say “Humanzee.” Beat me by a long shot! The trick is getting close enough without her tearing your face off ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/32 "2013-10-27T11:34:29Z")
I’d splicing all kinds of human/wild animal hybrids. I’d also like to find out if you took a baby and raised him in total isolation for 18 years and then stuck a naked lady in front of him, would he get aroused? Or in other words, how has his libido developed? ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/33 "2013-10-27T13:06:27Z")
Think big ! Stop all greenhouse gas emissions for 20 years. See if the climate recovers. Build a high fence around a theoretically self-sufficient country and turn off their government. After 10 years, see if the survivors are better off economically, and if they have naturally formed a new government. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/34 "2013-10-27T14:12:37Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’d also like to find out if you took a baby and raised him in total isolation for 18 years and then stuck a naked lady in front of him, would he get aroused? Or in other words, how has his libido developed? I’ve worked with the kids/people who grew up in the Romanian orphanages we heard about in the '90s. That’s something of an indication of what happens when children are raised without nurturing and suffering sensory deprivation: they become severely developmentally disabled. They rock and hit themselves to self-stimulate, they don’t develop language, they don’t develop normal movement. They probably have something resembling a libido, but I doubt it could even meaningfully be assessed. IME all the “raising children with nothing/on an island/no language/no nurturing/etc” is less interesting than you’d think. It’s mostly just very sad. I saw a picture of one of the (ahem) “orphanages” where some of the people I worked with came from, and they had rows of cots and people bottle feeding two at a time, standing between the rows. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/35 "2013-10-27T14:55:14Z")
Isn’t “Life as we know it” one big experiment without ethical concerns? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/36 "2013-10-27T15:22:40Z")
I would like to try to settle once and for all whether a severed human head can retain any level of consciousness. Put somebody in a contraption that’s basically a guillotine turned sideways, with the head held firmly in place. Have tubes and a blood supply ready. The instant that the head is severed, place the tubes into the blood vessels, and start up the blood supply. If all this is done very quickly, I think it would settle the question. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/37 "2013-10-27T16:22:52Z")
Far be it from me to lower to tone from severed heads and humanzees, but I think it would be interesting to run some experiments in the social sciences to try and validate theories of economics or psychology. Part of the problem with these theories is that you don’t have a control that you can use as a measurement baseline, and all discussions around what to do devolve into a shouting match with no real proof to support either approach. Let’s have some rigour in these experiments, people. So, for example, take two identical countries and subject them to very different economic regimes - say complete free-market economics vs highly regulated banking, and see which one has more desirable outcomes. Perhaps this would been to be run several times over to get some sort of statistical result. Run a similar experiment for universal government provided health care vs private health care, and document all the results. That sort of stuff. Of course, you’d have to be some ultra-long-lived alien race to be able to start the experiment and see the result in a single lifetime, but what sort of reason is that not to pursue the idea? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/38 "2013-10-27T17:10:07Z")
The stuff that comes to mind is more…_focused/concentrated_ versions of experiments that play out in our world. Eugenics/Euthanasia/Spartans vs Save All/Athens (?) - my attempt at naming may be completely off; sorry: a multi-century/generational study where one population has no/VERY limited access to genetic cures - i.e., let all “the weak” die and the strong breed - vs doing everything to save everyone. Fully legal drugs of all kinds - for sports and recreation - vs drugs only for medicine. Which population does better - along what measures? Over time? ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/39 "2013-10-27T17:51:47Z")
(Sorry I realise my earlier post may seem a little threadshitty because we’re leaving out ethics, it wasn’t my intention! What I wanted to say was just that raising children the “island” way IME does not give spectacle and fireworks, but mostly just a whole lot of nothing. But in ethics-free world, please carry on isolating 'em for science :D) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scientific-experiments-would-you-like-done-if-ethics-was-not-a-concern/672287/40 "2013-10-27T18:00:12Z")
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